William Shakespeare Sonnets

Make sure you can speak about the following (and sound like you know what youre talking about): 1. quatrain 2. sestet 3. octet 4. iambic pentameter 5. rhyming scheme (abab cdcd efef gg ) 6. rhyming couplet 7. volta and, finally, 8. can you spell Shakespearean?

Sonnet 18 Shall I Compare Thee

Theme: The theme of this sonnet is the ability of art to confer a form of immortality on a loved one. 1.8 His beloved cannot really be compared to summer because he/she is more lovely, more temperate and summer is sometimes shaken by rough winds. Sometimes summers are either too hot or too overcast (dimmd). All beautiful (fair) things lose their beautiful trimmings as the result of chance or nature. Unlike summer, his beloveds beauty will never fade; death will never boast that he has captured him/her because as long as people can read these lines his beloved will have life.

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This poem, like most of the sonnets, is designed to flatter the person to whom it is addressed in this case his patron, Henry Wriothesely, Earl of Southampton. However, like many of the sonnets, it also manages to provide an opportunity for Shakespeare to polish his own ego. There is often an element of the intellectual exercise in the sonnets and a suspicion on the part of the reader that the emotions expressed are not quite genuinely felt. Given that they were addressed to his patron in return for financial support and social advancement this is hardly surprising; nonetheless, there are many sonnets that are moving, memorable and startlingly original. Is this one of them?

Its as if Shakespeare sets himself a challenge to find as many reasons why a comparison between summer and his lover is not suitable. His beloved is more lovely and more temperate than even a lovely summers day and summer lasts for such a short time (lease). The poem trundles on in the same vein repeating the same idea in different ways until the rhyming couplet bring matters to a conclusion: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see his poem will survive, thereby conferring a vicarious life on his beloved. Its an idea that Shakespeare uses so frequently that it is formulaic and therefore lacks conviction. However, the truth behind it is ungainsayable (yes, that is a word).

Sonnet 29- When in disgrace with fortune Theme: The theme of this poem is the power of his loved one to bring happiness into his life. 1.8 When the poet is depressed about life, feels ignored by mankind and heaven; when he finds himself envying other people their friends or talents; when he finds himself indulging in self-hatred 9.14 if, at these moments, he happens to think about his beloved then his mood alters immediately to one of ecstasy.

Shakespeare adopts the persona of someone caught up in self-pity. However, the tone of begrudgery is quite convincing and he captures effectively the sense of grievance that might be nursed by a person who believes that he is one of lifes victims. The idea of victimization is created in the first quatrain by such words as outcast, deaf heaven, and bootless (unanswered) cries. The second quatrain is dominated by jealousy of others good fortune, good looks, good friends, skills and abilities. He paints a picture of a thoroughly miserable misanthrope devoid of any hope or cheer. So credible is this portrayal that it comes as a shock to see the swift transformation in the sestet to a person brimming over with love and joy. The cause of the sudden change is remembering his beloved; he causes his mood (state) to rise like a lark at break of day. This raises a problem for the reader: if Shakespeare has such a wonderful friend, why has he spent the octet telling us that hes friendless? It is, frankly, a bit ridiculous to expect the reader to believe that it simply slipped Shakespeares mind that he has such a true

friend, full of such sweet love to the point where he would scorn to change [his] state with kings. However, such quibbling ignores the spirit in which the sonnets were written. Many of them are simply formal exercises in dutifulness, polite expressions of gratitude, a halfhearted fulfilling of a contractual obligation.

Sonnet 30 - When to the sessions Theme: The theme of this sonnet is the redemptive power of love. Development 1.4 Shakespeare tells us that whenever he remembers events from his past life he sighs because he lacks many things he sought and he complains about how he wasted his time. 5.8 When he remembers bygone days he cries for all his friends who are now dead and for the pains caused by old love affairs. He bemoans vanished sights. 9.12 When he remembers bygone days he grieves for old insults and repeats for the umpteenth time stories of past misfortunes. 13.14 If he happens to think about his dear friend all his sadness disappears and his sorrow is at an end. This is another example of a sonnet where one feels Shakespeare is fulfilling his contractual duties to his patron. Notwithstanding its contrived extended metaphor, there are some nice touches; insincerity does not always make for bad poetry. The imagery from this sonnet is drawn from the legal world. In the first quatrain we are presented with the idea of a court in session. The poets memories have been issued with a summons to appear in the courtroom of sweet silent thought. Like a plaintiff in court, Shakespeare wails and complains that he lacks certain things. The legal imagery continues in the second quatrain where phrases such as cancelled woe, expense and grievance are suggestive of someone suing for damages and hoping for a large award in his favour. The third quatrain develops this further with the image of the plaintiff in the courtroom reciting his well-rehearsed account of grievances foregone. The idea of being forced to repay a debt that has already been settled is introduced in lines 11 and 12. The concluding rhyming couplet shows that in the courtroom of his mind all losses are restored. He wins his damages simply by thinking about his dear friend whose qualities are such that the ordeal of the trial is brought to an immediate end. Give us a break.

Sonnet 65 Since brass, nor stone Theme: The power of art to confer immortality. Development 1.4 The first quatrain asks if there is any way that beauty, fragile as a flower, can possibly last longer than brass or stone or the sea, since all of these durable things are eventually destroyed by sad mortality. 5.8 The second question asks if youth can last in the struggle against time when even rocks and steel are destroyed. 9.12 The third quatrain asks how can precious things be protected from time, how can he be stopped, who can prevent him from destroying beauty. 13.14 The rhyming couplet answers all these questions by saying that nothing can stop time apart from the power of the poets black ink. In other words his poetry will be powerful enough to last the test of time. The imagery of the poem presents us with indestructible objects that are being destroyed by time. The first quatrain contrasts the fragility of beautys flower with the strength of brass, stone and earth. The second quatrain develops the image of a fortress (summers honey breath) under attack from times battering ram. Time is depicted as a hostile attacking force against whom gates of steel and impregnable rocks are useless. The third quatrain develops the idea of an attacking force even further by depicting time as a soldier pillaging and stealing, looking for jewels. The rhyming couplet uses the idea of a miracle to suggest sudden change in the battle against time. The weapon that will shine bright is, in a nice paradox, the black ink of the poet.

Sonnet 73 That time of year Theme: This is a very beautiful meditation on growing old, death and separation from loved ones. There is no mistaking the true note of sincerity that sounds throughout this sonnet. Its tone is at once incredibly sad and full of love. Its beauty derives from the grace of the language and the unusual stance of the speaker who, instead of heaping praise on his lover, invites his beloved to observe his own frail imperfections. The indecision that hovers over line 2, where he seems unable to make up his mind just how decrepit he is, echoes the vagueness that is characteristic of old age and sounds so honest a quality lacking in many of the sonnets. The image of the bare ruind choirs, and all that it implies, is heartbreakingly moving. The second quatrain uses the image of a dying day to convey the imminence of his own death and culminates in the wonderful metaphor of line 8, one of Shakespeares favourite conceits and one that he reworks in Hamlet and Macbeth. The third quatrain employs a complex paradox to express the idea that he is being consumed by that which once gave him youth: life itself. The concluding couplet resists the temptation to introduce a happy ending. Its brutal honesty, with its sense of the end being nigh, is touching. Even more affecting, though, is the certainty on Shakespeares part that life will continue for his lover after his death.

Sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds Theme: The theme of this poem is the permanence of true love. Development 1.4 In true love there are no impediments or obstacles. Love never alters its course. Like a firmly embedded nail, it will not be removed. 5.8 Love resembles a fixed marker or reference point such as the north star. No storm can move it. Its worth is beyond calculation.
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Love is unaffected by time, unlike the body. It does not change over hours and weeks: it lasts until doomsday. 13.14 If any of this is untrue, then the poet has never written anything, nor has any man ever fallen in love. Imagery There are three different sets of images in the poem. The first set refers to obstacles that try to force the course of true love to alter. Line 4 could refer to a nail that stubbornly refuses to budge. The second quatrain compares true love to a star that every wandering bark (boat) uses at night for navigation. It never moves or changes, it resists the force of storms. Line 8 seems to mean that although one has a vague sense of the importance of love, one never closely analyses it. The third section uses imagery that refers to time as the grim reaper cutting people down with his sickle. Although the physical body may succumb to time, love does not. In order to impress upon us the truth of what he has said, Shakespeare says that to prove him wrong would be like proving that no man ever loved a woman and that he has never written a word.