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Building Background
Sonnet SubjectsAlthough sonnet sequences had long been fashionable by Shakespeare’s time, his poems explored more than the typical theme of a young man pining for love. For example, Sonnet 116 describes true love as a permanent feeling that does not lessen when the physical beauty of one’s beloved begins to fade. Shakespeare’s sonnets fall into three groups. Sonnets 1–126 concern a handsome young man whom the speaker urges to marry and have children. Sonnets 127–152 concern a “dark lady,” a woman who attracted both the poet and the young man. The final two sonnets are English versions of Greek poems and have no real connection to the rest of the sequence. No one knows for certain who the handsome youth and dark lady were, although many scholars have made guesses. In reality, the characters might simply have been figments of Shakespeare’s fertile imagination.
Poetic form: Shakespearean sonnet
Shakespeare wrote very complex and sophisticated sonnets, moving beyond the traditional themes of love and beauty. The Shakespearean sonnetform, also known as the English sonnet, has the following characteristics:
• The sonnet contains three quatrainsand a couplet.
• The rhyme schemeis abab cdcd efef gg.
• There is often a turn,or shift in thought, which occurs in the third quatrain or the couplet.
As you read these four sonnets, notice the way Shakespeare sets up his subjects in the early quatrains and employs the turn near the end.
Literary element: simile and metaphor
Simile and metaphor are figures of speech that make comparisons between two seemingly unlike things or ideas in order to suggest an underlying similarity between them. In a simile, the words like or as are used to express the comparison explicitly. The comparison in a metaphor is implicit.
As you read, ask yourself, What purposes do these devices serve in the sonnets?
Reading skill: analyze imagery
Among the many tools of poets, few are as important as imagery—words and phrases that re-create sensory experiences for the reader. Although Shakespeare often addresses philosophical themes in his sonnets, he breathes life into his ideas by evoking sights, sounds, smells, and textures. For example, in Sonnet 116 Shakespeare uses the image “rosy lips and cheeks” to convey the idea of mortal flesh.
As you read the following sonnets, look for language that appeals to your senses. Use a chart like the one shown to identify ideas or emotions that are conveyed through this imagery.
| Sonnet | Imagery | Idea or Emotion Conveyed |
| rough winds | Summer weather can be harsh. | |
| Sonnet 130 William Shakespeare 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 damask’d, 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[89]. | Sonnet 116 William Shakespeare Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments; love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand’ring bark[90], Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come, Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. |
After Reading 1
Comprehension: Recall and Interpret
1.In your own words, summarize two main points the speaker makes about the nature of true love in Sonnet 116. What is the speaker implying about bad relationships? Explain.
2.What metaphor does the speaker use to describe love in the second quatrain of Sonnet 116? How does the comparison help relate the speaker’s message?
3.What does the final couplet of Sonnet 116 add to the speaker’s message?
4.How does the speaker describe the woman he loves in Sonnet 130? Does his description tell you his real opinion of her? Refer to lines from the poem to support your answer.
5.In Sonnet 130 how does the final couplet change the meaning of the poem?
6.What sort of poetry does Sonnet 130 mock or criticize? What message about love is implied with this criticism?
Literary Analysis: Evaluate
7. ParaphraseWhat does the speaker say about love in lines 9–12 of Sonnet 116?
8. Make InferencesWhat view of love does the speaker react against in Sonnet 116?
9. Analyze ImageryReview the chart you created as you read. Which images does Shakespeare use in Sonnet 130 to suggest the type of ideal woman glorified in traditional love sonnets?
10. Interpret ThemesWhat ideas about the effects of time does Shakespeare convey in Sonnet 116?
12. Compare TextsIn what ways do the speakers of the following poems idealize love?Compare and contrast the themes, citing specific details.
• Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
• Spenser’s Sonnet 30
• Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116
Literary Criticism
13. Historical ContextShakespeare wrote his sonnets during the English Renaissance, a period of great social, religious, and political change. England was ruled at the time by a very powerful female monarch—Queen Elizabeth I—and though the changes were modest, women’s role in society was evolving. In what ways does Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 reflect this context?
14. Creative WritingWrite a sonnet from the mistress’s point of view about the speaker of Sonnet 130. Your poem may be humorous or serious. One partner should write the first line; the other will continue with the next line. Then take turns switching back and forth until your fourteen lines have been written. Save your work for your portfolio.
While Reading 2
Build Background
Soliloquies were a common feature in Elizabethan theater. In a soliloquy, a character, alone onstage, reveals his or her private thoughts and feelings. In Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet’s father has urged Hamlet to avenge his murder. Hamlet hesitates, unsure that he has seen a true ghost, and uncertain of how to go about killing the murderer. Hamlet then ponders the idea of being dead, and free from care.
Literary element: voice
The distinctive use of language that conveys the author’s or speaker’s personality to the reader or viewer is called voice. Voice is determined by elements of style such as word choice and tone. As you read each speech, ask yourself, How would I describe the distinctive voice of the speaker?
Reading skill: drawing conclusions about theme
A conclusion is a general statement drawn from specific examples. Theme is the overall message about life in a work of literature. To draw a conclusion about theme, consider what has happened, how the characters feel about it, and how you—the reader or audience member—are supposed to react.
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| Hamlet To be, or not to be—that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep— No more, and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. ’Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, To sleep—perchance to dream. Aye, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil Must give us pause. There’s the respect That makes calamityof so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all[91], And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. . . . | 10.rub refers to an obstacle 12.coil means “turmoil.” 16. contumely refers to abuse 19.the phrase of the unworthy takes means “receives from unworthy persons.” 21.a bare bodkin is a dagger out of its sheath 21. fardels are “burdens” 24.here, bourn means “boundary” 29.native hue means “natural color” 31.here, pitch means “height.” |
| As you like it In As You Like It, the former Duke, whose title has been usurped by his younger brother, has been living in exile in the Forest of Arden. With him are Jaques, a melancholy lord, and other former attendants. The former Duke has just commented that the “wide and universal theater” of the world presents scenes sadder than theirs. Jaques picks up on the word theater in this meditation on life. | ||
| Jaques All the world’s a stage And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts[92], His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lin’d, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. | 6. mewling is a catlike cry 12. the phrase bearded like the pard means the soldier had a moustache like a leopard’s 13. jealous in honor means “being easily angered in matters of honor” 18. here, saws mean “sayings” 20. a pantaloon is a stock character in Italian comedy, usually portrayed as a ridiculous, helpless old man. 23. here, shank means “calf” 28. sans is French for “without.” | |
| The tempest In The Tempest, Prospero, Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, end up shipwrecked on an island after escaping an attempt on their lives by Prospero’s brother. Years later, Prospero, who is also a powerful magician, has caused the wreck of another ship, one bearing Ferdinand, Prince of Naples. Hoping that Miranda and Ferdinand will fall in love, Prospero has just staged an elaborate show in which island spirits, portraying Roman goddesses, bless their union. | ||
| Prospero Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageantfaded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vexed. Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled. Be not disturbed with my infirmity. If you be pleased, retire into my cell And there repose. A turn or two I’ll walk To still my beating mind. |
After Reading 2
Comprehension: Recall and Interpret
1. Which character—Hamlet, Jaques, or Prospero—comes closest to your own views on life and death? Explain.
2. In To be, or not to be, what do you think Hamlet means by “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” in line 3? Give some examples mentioned in the text.
3.What does Hamlet mean by the “undiscovered country” in line 24?
4. What are the “many parts” everyone must play, according to Jaques in All the world’s a stage?
5.What does he mean by “second childishness”?
6.In “Our revels now are ended,” how does Prospero explain the disappearance of the actors? 7.What does he say corresponds in real life with the vision he has just shown?
Literary Analysis: Evaluate and Connect
8. Hamlet is wondering if he should murder his uncle, the king. How does the possibility of death affect his decision in lines 29–33?
9.In All the world’s a stage, does Jaques seem to respect the people who play “many parts”? Explain.
10.What does he mean by “strange, eventful history”? Is he being sarcastic? Explain.
11.What ideas about life and death do these three speeches and soliloquies have in common? Explain.
Reading Focus IV. from The Tragedy of Macbeth
(Drama by William Shakespeare)
KEY IDEA Ambition is a powerful motivating force. Often it is considered desirable, since it inspires people to realize their dreams. In fact, people without ambition are usually regarded as lazy. But is it possible to be overly ambitious? When might high aspirations lead to terrible consequences? Such questions are explored in the story of Macbeth, a general whose ambition is to become king.
Before Reading: Meet William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
In 1592—the first time William Shakespeare was recognized as an actor, poet, and playwright—rival dramatist Robert Greene referred to him as an “upstart crow.” Greene was probably jealous. Audiences had already begun to notice the young Shakespeare’s promise.
Of course, they couldn’t have foreseen that in time he would be considered the greatest writer in the English language.
Stage-StruckShakespeare probably arrived in London and began his career in the late 1580s. He left his wife, Anne Hathaway, and their three children behind in Stratford. Over the next 20 years, Shakespeare rarely returned home. Unlike most playwrights of his time, Shakespeare also worked as an actor. He even appeared in his own plays; among other roles, he played King Duncan in a stage production of Macbeth. Public and critical acclaim for his work grew. His audiences craved variety, and Shakespeare responded by mastering all forms of drama. In the 1590s, he concentrated on comedies, such as A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and histories, such as Henry IV, Parts I and II.
Toast of the TownIn 1594, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the most prestigious theater company in England. A measure of their success was that the theater company frequently performed before Queen Elizabeth I and her court. In 1599, they were also able to purchase and rebuild a theater across the Thames called the Globe. The company’s domination of the London theater scene continued after Elizabeth’s Scottish cousin James succeeded her in 1603. James became the patron, or chief sponsor, of Shakespeare’s company, thereafter known as the King’s Men.
| FYI Did you know that William Shakespeare… • is often referred to as “the Bard”—an ancient Celtic term for a poet who composed songs about heroes? • introduced more than 1,700 new words into the English language? • has had his work translated into 118 languages, including sign language? |
According to legend, Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, the day of his 52nd birthday. In 1623, two theater colleagues published his plays in a volume called the First Folio. In an introduction to the volume, playwright Ben Jonson declared with great insight that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time.”
While Reading
Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1783
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