Transcript Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Where is Shakespeare in my
world?
IMHO…
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What do you like about Shakespeare?
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What don’t you like about Shakespeare?
A little background, please
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The writings in this lesson come from
Shakespeare's early years and were
probably composed between 1592 and
1597. It is reasonable then to suppose
that the inspiration came from the time
between when he left Stratford and
popped up on the literary scene in
London.
Sonnet 18
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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.
In other words…
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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.
Just what do you mean,
Shakespearean Sonnet?
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Shakespearean sonnet: an 14 line stanza
written in iambic pentameter, that employs
the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef,gg,
and can be divided into three quatrains
and a couplet.
Sonnet 18 – labeled – yup, it’s
Shakespearean!
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1 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
a
2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
b
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, a
4 And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
b
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
c
6 And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
d
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
c
8 By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: d
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
e
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
f
11 Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, e
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
f
13 So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
g
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
g
Iambic Pentameter – and what is
that again?
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Iambic Pentameter: lines of poetry that can be
divided into 5 metric feet with alternately
unstressed and stressed syllables.
Shall I/ compare/ thee to/ a sum/ mer's day
Thou art/ more lov/ly and/ more temp/orate
 My name/ is Kim/ and I/ am a/ teacher.
 You try it!
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Your turn…
Read the following sonnets.
 Identify and label the rhyme scheme,
quatrains, and couplet.
 Put the sonnets into modern English.
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Sonnet 29
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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.
Sonnet 130
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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:
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,
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.
And the credit goes to…
PBS
 http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educator
s/language/lessonplan.html
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