1. William Shakespeare’s Sonnets

2. William Shakespeare c. 1564-1616 b. Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Playwright, Poet, Actor
Most famous for his plays
All but 2 of his 154 sonnets were published in 1609

4. Shakespearean Sonnets
1609 Quarto only source of most 152 Shakespearean Sonnets.
There are 3 categories of poems in this Quarto:
1-126 are addressed to The Fair Youth
are addressed to The Dark Mistress
A Lover’s Complaint a 329 line poem written in Rhyme Royal

5. Shakespeare’s Addressees
The Fair Youth (sonnets 1-126)
An unnamed young man
Written to in loving and romantic language
Some suggest this may be a homosexual love, others find support that it is platonic, or father-son love
The Dark Lady (sonnets )
Given this name because of she is described as being dark haired
The sonnets written about her express infatuation and are more sexual in nature

6. Shakespearean Sonnet Form
Still 14 lines
Broken into 4 parts
3 quatrains
1 rhyming couplet
Written in iambic pentameter:
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

7. Shakespearean Sonnet Form
Rhyme Scheme:
Quatrain 1: a b a b [introduces question]
Quatrain 2: c d c d [tentative
Quatrain 3: e f e f answers]
Rhyming Couplet: g g [final answer]
Volta:
The turn or transition in line 9 which marks a shift in focus or thought

8. Sonnet 18
ABAB
CDCD
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 too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.

9. Sonnet 18
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest, Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Sonnet 18
EFE F G

10. 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 too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed. But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest, Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.