Unit II Part I: Sonnets Elizabethan Time Period Elizabethan Time Period Author Information Author Information Analysis of Sonnets Analysis of Sonnets Vocabulary Words Vocabulary Words

Elizabethan Time Period What century is considered the Elizabethan Period? Why were sonnets so popular during the 16 th century?

Literary Terms Sonnet Sonnet sequence Renaissance

Literary Terms Patronage Stanza Octave Sestet Quatrain Couplet Exact rhyme Slant rhyme Personification

Author Information: Edmund Spenser ( ) Edmund Spenser ( ) -formal education at Cambridge University -formal education at Cambridge University Published first poems while attending university Published first poems while attending university Depended on patronage for his work Depended on patronage for his work Never received a position at court Never received a position at court Spensarian sonnet: Spensarian sonnet: rhymes ababbcbc cdcdee rhymes ababbcbc cdcdee Sometimes there is no break between octave and sestet Sometimes there is no break between octave and sestet Elizabeth Boyle was his wife; sonnet sequence entitled “Amoretti” Elizabeth Boyle was his wife; sonnet sequence entitled “Amoretti”

“Sonnet 75” One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. 5“Vain man,” said she, “that dost in vain assay A mortal thing so to immortalize, For I myself shall like to this decay, And eek my name be wiped out likewise.” “Not so,” quod I, “let baser things devise 10To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name. Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew.”

Author Information: Sir Philip Sidney ( ) Formal education at Oxford and Cambridge Extensive travels brought a wide variety of experiences A favorite in the court of Queen Elizabeth I 1580 fell out of favor of the queen for urging her not to marry Knighted in 1583 Wrote the first great sonnet sequence linked by a common theme in English Astrophel and Stella

“Sonnet 39” Come sleep. O sleep, the certain knot of peace, The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe, The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release, The indifferent judge between the high and low; 5 With shield of proof shield me from out the prease Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw: O make in me those civil wars to cease; I will good tribute pay, if thou do so. Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed, 10 A chamber deaf to noise, and blind to light, A rose garland, and a weary head: And if these things, as being thine by right, Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me, Livelier than elsewhere, Stella’s image see. Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme:

Author Information: William Shakespeare ( ) Born in Stratford on Avon theaters were closed due to the plague Wrote 154 sonnets during this time Explore five primary themes: time, death, love, friendship, and the immortality of poetry

Author Information: William Shakespeare (cont.) Four Characteristics of a Shakespearean Sonnet: 14 rhymed lines Usual rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg Five iambic feet to the line (foot=unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable) Three quatrains followed by an indented rhyming couplet where the first 12 lines present a problem and then resolves it in the final couplet (= change in tone).

“Sonnet 130” My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun, Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. 5 I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak. Yet well I know 10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound. I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme:

“Sonnet 29” When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries And look upon myself and curse my fate, 5Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd, Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 10Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme:

Author Information: Francisco Petrarch ( ) Francisco Petrarch ( ) Greatest Italian poet of the 14 th century Greatest Italian poet of the 14 th century Petrarchan sonnet: Petrarchan sonnet: Eight-line octave (abba abba; raises a question) Eight-line octave (abba abba; raises a question) and a six-line sestet (cdecde; gives a response). and a six-line sestet (cdecde; gives a response). Wrote about Laura; an idealized, unattainable love. Wrote about Laura; an idealized, unattainable love.

“Sonnet 28” Alone, and lost in thought, the desert glade Measuring I roam with lingering steps and slow; And still a watchful glance around me throw, Anxious to shun the print of human tread: 5No other means I find, no surer aid From the world's prying eye to hide my woe: So well my wild disorder'd gestures show, And love-lorn looks, the fire within me bred, That well I think each mountain, wood and plain, 10And river knows, what I from man conceal, What dreary hues my life's fool chances dim. Yet whate'er wild or savage paths I've ta'en, Where'er I wander, love attends me still, Soft whisp'ring to my soul, and I to him. Alone, and lost in thought, the desert glade Measuring I roam with lingering steps and slow; And still a watchful glance around me throw, Anxious to shun the print of human tread: 5No other means I find, no surer aid From the world's prying eye to hide my woe: So well my wild disorder'd gestures show, And love-lorn looks, the fire within me bred, That well I think each mountain, wood and plain, 10And river knows, what I from man conceal, What dreary hues my life's fool chances dim. Yet whate'er wild or savage paths I've ta'en, Where'er I wander, love attends me still, Soft whisp'ring to my soul, and I to him. Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme:

Author Information Pastoral Poems Christopher Marlowe ( ) Christopher Marlowe ( ) Killed before the age of 30 in a tavern brawl in 1593; conspiracy. Killed before the age of 30 in a tavern brawl in 1593; conspiracy. Spent college days writing and serving as a government agent. Spent college days writing and serving as a government agent. Scoundrel; ladies’ man; hothead; personal magnetism Scoundrel; ladies’ man; hothead; personal magnetism

Author Information Pastoral Poems Sir Walter Raleigh ( ) Sir Walter Raleigh ( ) Famed for being a courtier, a navigator, a poet, and a historian. Famed for being a courtier, a navigator, a poet, and a historian. A favorite of Queen Elizabeth I A favorite of Queen Elizabeth I 1584 set up a colony in Roanoke Island, Virginia 1584 set up a colony in Roanoke Island, Virginia Secretly married to the queen’s maid, and was banished from court for four years Secretly married to the queen’s maid, and was banished from court for four years Accused of treason against King James I; sent to the Tower of London where he lived for 13 years. Accused of treason against King James I; sent to the Tower of London where he lived for 13 years.

Author Information Pastoral Poems Pastoral Poem- Pastoral Poem- lyrics that celebrates the simple pleasures of life in the country lyrics that celebrates the simple pleasures of life in the country “Passionate Shepherd to His Love” “Passionate Shepherd to His Love” Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme: “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (written in 1600, seven years after Marlowe’s death) “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (written in 1600, seven years after Marlowe’s death) Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme:

“SONNET 18” Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 5Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade 10Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee. Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme:

“Sonnet 28: As good to write as for to lie and groan" As good to write as for to lie and groan. O Stella dear, how much thy power hath wrought, That hast my mind, none of the basest, brought My still-kept course, while other sleep, to moan; 5Alas, if from the height of virtue's throne Thou canst vouchsafe the influence of a thought Upon a wretch that long thy grace hath sought, Weigh then how I by thee am overthrown; And then think thus--although thy beauty be 10Made manifest by such a victory, Yet noblest conquerors do wrecks avoid. Since then thou hast so far subdued me, That in my heart I offer still to thee, Oh, do not let thy temple be destroyed. Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme:

“Sonnet 1” Happy ye leaves when as those lily hands, which hold my life in their dead doing might shall handle you and hold in loves soft bands, like captives trembling at the victor’s sight. 5And happy lines, on which with starry light, those lamping eyes will deign sometimes to look and read the sorrows of my dying spright, written with tears in hearts close bleeding book. And happy rhymes bathed in the sacred brook, 10of Helicon whence she derived is, when ye behold that Angels blessed look, my soul's long lacked food, my heaven’s bliss. Leaves, lines, and rhymes, seek her to please alone, whom if ye please, I care for other none. Speaker: Tone: Theme: Rhyme scheme: