1. Shakespeare’s Sonnets
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.“
from Hamlet William Shakespeare

2. Who was Shakespeare?
Born in 1564, the third child and first son of John Shakespeare and his wife Mary Arden, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. John Shakespeare was a landowner, a merchant, a glove maker, and the equivalent of what we would call a mayor today.
At the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer from the nearby village of Shottery. In 1583, they had a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith, in (Hamnet died at age eleven).
Around 1588 Shakespeare and his family moved to London and within a few years he had achieved some success as an actor, a poet and a playwright. The Sonnets especially established his reputation as a gifted and popular poet, but it is the 38 plays he wrote or collaborated on that have firmly established his reputation as the greatest dramatist who ever lived.

3. Shall I? Sonnet 18

4. 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: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest 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.

5. Questions to ask when reading a poem:
1. Who is the speaker? 2. To whom is he/she speaking (audience)? 3. State the poem's main idea in a single sentence. 4. What is the tone of the poem? 5. Note any words that seem especially well chosen. 6. Note metaphors, similes, and personification. 7. Explain the significance of any sound repetition. 8. Do you like the poem? Why or why not?

6. Shakespearean sonnet:
an 14 line stanza
written in iambic pentameter
rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef,gg
can be divided into three
quatrains and a couplet.

7. Sonnet 18 paraphrased
OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer day But, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calm Because sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get shaken off And sometimes summer doesn't last very long Sometimes it's too hot And everything gorgeous loses its looks By getting hit by a truck Or just because everyone and everything gets old and ugly and shabby BUT (and here's the turn) you're going to keep your looks for ever Your beauty will last for ever I'm going to make sure that you never lose your good looks And that nasty old Death can never brag about owning you Because I shall write this poem about you As long as men can breathe (are you breathing?) As long as men can see (are you looking at this poem?) Then this poem lives, and it gives life and memory to your beauty.

8. Iambic Pentameter:
lines of poetry that can be divided into 5 metric feet with alternately unstressed and stressed syllables.
A line of iambic pentameter flows like this: baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM.
Be sure to explain the idea of "feet", the smallest repeating ryhthmic units (in Shakespeare's case, the iamb is the metrical foot.)

9. Iambic Pentameter

10. weakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweak
Iambic pentameter:
weakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweak
STRONGweakSTRONG
“I AM…”
I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM
Have students repeat a line of five "I am"'s with the emphasis on the "am" syllable. Explain that this is one way to remember the iambic rhythm. Practice saying some sentences that begin with "I AM" in a weak-STRONG pattern: "I AM a great student; I AM going to be nice to my little brother."

11. weakSTRONGweakSTRONGweak STRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONG
I AM a PI rate WITH a WOOD en LEG
What light through yonder window breaks?
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
To really feel the iambic rhythm, get students up on their feet and say the next line, "I am a pirate with a wooden leg," dragging their wooden legs on the unstressed syllables and stepping strongly on the stressed syllables. Have students draw parentheses around the iambs and note that some divide in the middle of words: meter is about sound, not spelling.

12. 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 my self and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least, Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising, Haply 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 remembered such wealth brings, That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

14. Sonnet #29 - paraphrased
When I feel unlucky and like no one likes me And I feel all alone and cry And it's as if my prayers to heaven have no power at all because no one is listening And I feel sorry for myself and think that 'm the unluckiest person alive I wish that I had that person’s opportunities That I looked like that cute person and was as popular as the most popular person in my class Wishing that I had that man's talent, and that man's understanding of difficult concepts Not at all happy with the things I usually enjoy. Even then, almost hating myself for thinking this way Perhaps my thoughts think about you, and then my soul, Just like the lark that sings at the moment the light of day Breaks over the cold earth, sings a song filled with joy and light Because I remember the sweet love we share, and the richness that it brings And, at that point, remembering what we have together, I wouldn't change my present condition even with a king.

15. What does it mean to paraphrase?
A paraphrase takes difficult language and explains it in easier, more understandable, language.
It is usually as long as and often longer than the original piece.
It does not contain any of the original language.

16. Your Turn….
Read Sonnet 101.
Ask yourself the questions that will help you better understand the poem.
In your group, paraphrase this sonnet.
For extra credit, use only iambic pentameter in your paraphrase.

17. Sonnet 101
O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed? Both truth and beauty on my love depends; So dost thou too, and therein dignified. Make answer, Muse: wilt thou not haply say 'Truth needs no colour, with his colour fixed; Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay; But best is best, if never intermixed?' Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb? Excuse not silence so; for't lies in thee To make him much outlive a gilded tomb, And to be praised of ages yet to be. Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee how To make him seem long hence as he shows now. 

18. References
Adapted from the pbs lesson plan “Shakespear’s Sonnets” available through www. Pbs.org