Transcript Analyzing Poetry – Sonnet 123

Analyzing Poetry
SHAKESPEARE’S 123 RD SONNET
Learning
Outcomes
 To understand Shakespeare’s
Sonnet and find deeper meanings
within (Meaning)
 To identify and understand the
purpose of the literary techniques
and of the structure (Images,
Language, and Structure)
 To understand the personification
of Time in the Poem (Images,
Language, Structure, and Effect)
William Shakespeare – Some Background Info
Shakespeare was born on April 26 in 1564.
William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway
in 1582 when he was 18 and she was 26. For a
while, Shakespeare earned his living by
working as both an actor as well as a
playwright. Shakespeare wrote his works in
the style of the time, with extravagant
metaphors and rhetorical expressions that
didn’t always quite make sense. No one knows
exactly when, but he died sometime in 1616.
As for his 154 Sonnets, they were mostly
about love. He sometimes wrote a series of
sonnets for one person.
1. Understand the Text (Meaning)
ORIGINAL TEXT
LITERAL TRANSLATION
Looking Deeper
SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS WERE USUALLY ABOUT LOVE AND WERE
WRIT TEN FOR OR ABOUT HIS WOMEN: YOU DON’T NECESSARILY
HAVE TO TAKE THE SONNET LITERALLY.
Key Ideas
• Time is a villain and a trickster, and the poet doesn’t want to fall victim to Time’s schemes:
•Time tricks us because:
• People make judgments on people’s appearances (i.e. young – beautiful and loving, old –
shriveled, ugly and lethargic) and this is a fault of time, because time determines your age,
and thus beauty.
• Line 6: Use of the word foist means….
• This theme of love is relevant to this particular sonnet, even though on the surface it focuses on
time, because throughout the poem Shakespeare is saying that even though time will erase his
lover’s beauty (time’s destruction) he will still love her (Thou shalt not boast that I do change)
• “For thy records and what we see doth lie” => Time’s effects on people’s appearances can lie
about their character.
• “I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee” => He will be loyal to her, despite Time’s
destruction and decay on her beauty.
2a. Sonnet Structure: Quick Review
• Sonnets have:
• 14 lines
• 3 Quatrains (Normally with a rhyme structure)
• 1 Volta
• 1 Couplet (with a rhyme structure)
• 10 syllables per line (rhythm)
• And traditionally an iambic pentameter (accent on every second syllable)
• In this sonnet, about time, the rhythm is very important because the effect of the iambic pentameter is that it gives
a beat that is constant… almost like the ticking of a clock.
2a. Sonnet Structure
Volta
Quatrain 1
Quatrain 2
Quatrain 3
• No! Time, thou
shalt not boast that
I do change:
• Thy pyramids built
up with newer
might,
• To me are nothing
novel, nothing
strange;
• They are but
dressings of a
former sight.
• Our dates are brief,
and therefore we
admire
• What thou dost
foist upon us that is
old;
• And rather make
them born to our
desire,
• Than think that we
before have heard
them told.
• Thy registers and
thee I both defy,
• Not wondering at
the present nor the
past,
• For thy records and
what we see doth
lie,
• Made more or less
by thy continual
haste.
Couplet
• This I do vow and
this shall ever be;
• I will be true,
despite thy scythe
and thee
The Quatrains (lines 1-12)
POINT
• The quatrains are four lines of poetry that
have a rhyme scheme like this: ABAB, CDCD,
EFEF. Each quatrain usually has its own
purpose within the topic: i.e. rhyme scheme:
No! Time, thou shalt not boast that I do
change:
Thy pyramids built up with newer might,
To me are nothing novel, nothing strange;
They are but dressings of a former sight.
EFFECTS
• Rhyme is meant to emphasize important
words.
• Words like ‘change’ and ‘strange’ rhyme, so
do ‘admire’ and ‘desire’, as well as ‘lie’ and
‘defy’.
• In quatrains 1 & 3 the rhyming words on
lines 1 and 3 are related to time and
defiance, while in lines 2 & 4 they are
related to love. The effect is that we
understand that there is a connection
between Time and love & beauty
The Couplet (lines 13-14)
POINT
• The couplet is after the Volta
• Both lines of the couplet are indented
• The couplet is about a promise
• It has a GG rhyme pattern
EFFECTS
• Because the couplet is after the volta it has a
new topic, which is the promise to not change
despite Time’s destruction. The effect is that it
is the final thing to be said, therefore the most
impacting and memorable.
• It is indented to set apart lines with the same
rhythm or rhyme (in our case AA rhyme
pattern). Shakespeare wanted to set apart
those lines rhythmically as well as visually so
we would remember and have that impact.
Summation of Structure of Sonnet 123:
Quatrains
- Time’s effect on love and
Beauty
Volta
Couplet
- The final promise
2b. Literary Techniques: Images
METAPHORS
• METAPHORS: Shakespeare addresses growth
and change by means of metaphorically defying
time
• A scythe is a metaphor for destruction because it is
a tool to mow down grass
• It can also refer to the Grim Reaper, the Master of
Time, and Death & Decay
EFFECTS:
• The effect is it creates a visual image for the
reader and a negative connotation of time, to get
you on the poet’s side.
•So technically Shakespeare is talking about the
Grim Reaper when he speaks about the enemy:
“… thy scythe and thee.”
2b. Literary Techniques: Images
SYMBOLISM (CAN BE APPLIED TO DICTION AS WELL)
• Pyramids – symbolize once-glory and beauty [of
the poet’s woman] that has decayed over time into
monuments of ruin
• They can also symbolize glory but are tombs – once
again represent the death and deterioration Time
brings
• Scythe – as mentioned before, a scythe is a tool
used by farmers for cutting grass, and is also used
by the Grim Reaper who is the Master of Time [kills
you when your time has come]. Effect -> viewing of
Time from Poet’s perception.
• Foist – to force upon fraudently. Effect -> time is a
cheat, and a trickster
2b. Literary Techniques: Language
ALLITERATION
• Line 3: Nothing novel, nothing =>
•Line 10: Present nor the past (consonance) =>
• Throughout: th sounds (consonance) =>
EFFECTS
• The effect is that it creates a mood of
defiance and renouncing, same as the 1st word
of the sonnet.
• drags your attention to it and the fact that
there is no future mentioned. He is open to
the future. Beauty is just a façade, so it may
fade.
• emphasizes 2nd person, and in extension the
personification of time.
3. Personification of Time
• Time is personified
1) the poet talks to it in 2nd person, as if he
were speaking to another human.
2) When he gives Time human actions such as
build or foist.
• Humans have a problem with time because it
is one of the few things they cannot control.
People try to fight Time. It is easier to deal
with or understand when it in the form of a
person.
3. Personification of Time: my
Interpretation
• Love is something between two people: it’s a very human thing.
• Shakespeare makes time human in order that he can connect it with the humanity of love.
• Application: if you think of love, you think of two people in love, not a concept falling in love
with a concept. It’s human. That’s why Shakespeare had to personify Time: to make it applicable.
• This sonnet was obviously for a woman. Not everyone understands things like Shakespeare, so if
he says it to his lover he has to make it applicable so that she can actually understand what he’s
saying.
3. Personification of Time
• You can go deeper with this personification:
The Grim Reaper (Time’s Scythe)
• Shakespeare loves a female, and ‘sees’ the
Grim Reaper as a jealous guy trying to take his
love away from him by bringing about her
decay and demise.
• In short, Shakespeare personifies time so that
he can make this woman understand how
much he loves her.
Activity
In groups of 3+ people:
1)
Discuss/debate which part of
SMILE did Shakespeare use
most to carry across his true
purpose. Support your
decision with at least one
example. (Interpersonal &
verbal/linguistic.)