“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, his acts being seven ages.”-William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night are just a few of Shakespeare’s famous works that have become classics to literature. While many have heard of these plays, his poetry is still not as well known. Explore the world of Shakespeare’s poetry by finding a sonnet. Analyze the sonnet by explaining the rhetorical devices used and the profound effects the devices have on the overall, universal message.
Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all;
ReplyDeleteWhat hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.
Then, if for my love, thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest;
But yet be blam'd, if thou thy self deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty:
And yet, love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes.
Desperate situations call for desperate remedies, and in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 40, the poet wishes to find a way out of his misery. He cannot disguise the fact that his beloved youth has stolen his mistress. He tries to come to terms with the reality of the deception and loss. The initial exclamation signifies the exhaustion of the speaker, as if having examined all possible motives for the actions of the youth, he can find no justification. Let his beloved have all his loves, for they are valueless compared to the love which he feels for the youth. Yet immediately doubts begin to resurface. The beloved's motives are called into question once more. Forgiveness is the best course, even though the beloved comes close to being depicted as the worst sort of thief stealing a miserable elder’s last savings. The harm a lover's wrong can do is far greater than injuries caused by an enemy. The closing couplet tries to rescue the situation, and its very weakness seems to give it strength. It is noticeable that this sonnet constantly uses the word 'love'. This may be an expression of the fact that the poet feels his love more threatened than at any other time, and by repetition of the word he will cast a spell by it and prevent it from flying away.
The entire sonnet plays on the various meanings of love. Within the first line, love represents a mistress, the youth, and the overall experience of loving. As the poem progresses, the poet gives a sense of awkwardness and uneasiness in lines (5-8). As if both the poet and lover know their actions are wrong but refuse to admit it. Also, the phrase “willful taste” (line 8) refers to the sexual experience, and the contrast between the poet’s dilemma; the youth wants to decline the advantage of the situation, while his lustful nature dominates and encourages him to seize the opportunity. Many oxymoron are used to portray the poet’s confusion. On line 9, the use of “gentle thief” is softened by the tone of forgiveness because it refers to love, but is followed by the negative feeling of treachery. In addition, line 13 contains a contradiction because “lascivious grace” represents sensuality and elegance, but the line is followed by “ill” signifying evil.
SONNET 17
ReplyDeleteWho will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say 'This poet lies:
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
So should my papers yellow'd with their age
Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice; in it and in my rhyme.
Death exists as one of the few constants in the tumultuous adventure that comprises a human’s life here on Earth. Here, Shakespeare confronts his mortality head on with an instrument mightier than sword, his fragile pen. He opens the sonnet with a rhetorical question that he attempts to answer throughout the poem in an almost Socratic discussion within his mind, posing theory after thought and counter. The word “life” in line four offers the first glimpse at the individual Shakespeare addresses using apostrophe. He then claims, in an almost metonymic fashion, that his “verse” could not begin to describe the wonder of “half your parts” (1, 4). In this line, Shakespeare uses “parts” as a type of pun, denoting the addressee’s literal physical features [perhaps even limbs, which would bring an even further literal meaning to the word] and also all the qualities that make up the speaker’s lover. To understate the power of his sonnet to capture the adoration of the speaker, the author uses a simile of a “tomb” to illustrate the poetic resting place of speaker’s lover (3). Moving from one end of the spectrum to the other, Shakespeare then utilizes hyperbole when he states he would run out of digits to “number all your graces” (6). Then, the poet conjures the image of ancient, “yellow’d” tomb to which future readers would balk reading the description of his lover’s beauty (9). Further, he then divines his condemnation as a lunatic “old man” for worshipping such a Pygmalion (10). To end his work, Shakespeare uses a hypothetical comparison, stating in the couplet that his poem contains the beauty that is his lover, which could also be seen in one of her descendants. The universal message of this piece is that love knows neither time nor space, and that attempting to contain it within a page is difficult, even for the most skilled of poets such as Shakespeare.
@Caroline: very thorough paraphrasing of the poem. You do great job of developing the story in the poem.Excellent analysis describing mood, tone, and oxymoron.
ReplyDelete@Bracey: Way to incorporate some of those "less-common" devices, such as apostrophe and pun. Great job.
SONNET 3
ReplyDeleteLook in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose uneared womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime;
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remembered not to be,
Die single and thine image dies with thee.
Shakespeare implores the importance of reproduction in this sonnet. He believes that if a man were to have a son or daughter, there will always be a part of him within him or her even after he dies. However, if he were to never mate, he would be lost forever after his death. Children offer a man someone to instill their moral values, beliefs, and overall personality into. Without children, a man becomes lost and forgotten, treated as a person of what once was. No one remembers him after his death, but instead moves on with their lives. If his children were to live on however, he will always be remembered. Shakespeare uses rhyming and analyzes the beauty of life to relay his message across.
*****BLOG CHANGE*****
ReplyDeleteTake one of Shakespeare’s many sonnets and create your own sonnet in the style of Shakespeare. Keep in mind the rhyme scheme and length of a typical Shakespearean sonnet. In addition, analyze your poem and the devices you used within the sonnet. In addition, link the theme of your poem with Shakespeare’s sonnet that you selected. Remember to mention somewhere in your blog post which of Shakespeare’s sonnets you used for your inspiration.
Great job to everyone so far!
SONNET 20
ReplyDeleteA woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion; A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted With shifting change, as is false women's fashion; An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling, Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth; A man in hue, all 'hues' in his controlling, Much steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth. And for a woman wert thou first created; Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting, And by addition me of thee defeated, By adding one thing to my purpose nothing. But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure, Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.
From the moment I saw her, my life would hinder
I knew this was the defining moment in thine life,
I was tormented by her beautiful splendor.
Her beautiful outlook would safe me from strife.
As I stroll, her eyes dreameth
I knew without her I could not be complete.
Her soul and demeanor amazeth.
I had to demonstrate my love, not discrete.
Carved from the God’s of stone,
Her eyes, the sparkle, her hair like golden wheat
How I wish she were my own.
Nothing but her love can be so sweet.
Seeing as this angel would soon be mine.
Her beauty and love devine.
I incorporated words Shakespeare used such as “amazeth.” While these words are not proper modern-day English, they give the poem a Shakespearean character. Sonnet 20 tells a tale of a woman, that has won the heart of another. The theme is eternal love and human compassion. The ideals that the individual sees in the woman are unworldly. She is an angel to him, and nothing in this life compares to her divine grace.
Shakespeare's 69th Sonnet
ReplyDeleteThose parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend;
All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due,
Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend.
Thy outward thus with outward praise is crown'd;
But those same tongues that give thee so thine own
In other accents do this praise confound
By seeing farther than the eye hath shown.
They look into the beauty of thy mind,
And that, in guess, they measure by thy deeds;
Then, churls, their thoughts, although their eyes were kind,
To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds:
But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,
The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.
Alexander's Sonnet
Thy sepulchre doth glow white as oysters' pearls
Yet the purest treasures hidden within
Clothed with finery shaming noble earls
Whose worldly eyes blindly ignore thy sin
Rotting within jeweled coffins beneath
The same soil that fed thy vivacious life
Ere obsession with things that crowns bequeath
Contested for by princely heirs of strife
Those who utter bare truth's impurity
Define beauty by traits of unsought quests
Demons dement preyed insecurities
Locking thy iron locks of gilded chests
But thy shells that cover irritant sand
Clasped closed like a greeting of thy soiled hand
Shakespeare's Sonnet #69 speaks of the world's perception of outward beauty and ignored principles within. My sonnet is inspired by his poetry and utilizes different rhetorical devices to convey a similar message. I utilize the same rhyming scheme and iambic pentameter in my sonnet. Metaphorically referring to a human as an oyster, I analyze several layers that comprise the deceitful exterior of a person. This person is impressive and dressed in clothing as fine as a nobles'. The symbolic dress is the impressive outward appearance people put on to impress our various audiences. Yet like "jeweled coffins" our insides decompose and will continue to rot if left unattended. The soil is symbolic for our birth from organic matter and then return to the soil, a beginning and end. Our "obsession with things that crowns bequeath" utilizes the synecdoche to reference crowns as loyalty and also refers to the material treasures left in a ruler's will. The people mentioned in the sonnet who define beauty in a different way focus on the non-material things in life often ignored and forgotten. Our individual "demons" prey on our insecurities and lock the actual treasures inside our "chests" another metaphor for a soul, or body and spirit combined. The sonnet concludes with the idea that we mask our imperfections with artificial beauty until our faults are indistinguishable, similar to the way an oyster covers irritating sand with secretions to form a beautiful pearl.
Sonnet Number 6
ReplyDeleteIf amours faith, an hert unfayned,
A swete languor a great lovely desir :
If honest will kyndelled in gentill fier :
If long error in a blynde maze chayned :
If in my visage, eche thought depaynted :
Or els in my sperkling voyse lower or higher.
Which nowe fere, nowe shame, wofully doth tyer :
If a pale colour which love hath stayned :
If to have an other then myself more dere :
Yf wailing and sighting continuelly,
With sorrowfull anger feding bissely :
Yf burning a farr of : and fresing nere
Ar cause that by love my self I destroye,
Yours is the fault and myn the great annoye.
If amour's faith, an heart unfeigned, A sweet languor,
a great lovely desire, If honest will kindled in gentle fire,
If long error in a blind maze chained, If in my visage,
each thought depainted, Or else in my sparkling voice,
lower or higher, Which now fear, now shame, woefully
doth tire; If a pale colour which love hath stained, If to
have another than myself more dear, If wailing and sighing
continually, With sorrowfull anger feeding busily;
If burning afar off, and freezing near, Are cause that
by love my self I destroy, Yours is the fault and mine
the great annoy.
The Once Unattainable
If the sentiment was easily believed,
With time thou shall not deceive;
Within my chest my heart for one does beat,
A love oh so pure my heart once yearned,
No longer searching for that out of reach.
Taking the time for the rules thou will abide.
No feat shall be out of reach;
Linger in the moment, for one another’s love thou leach.
Through love my self destruct,
Creating a new being with you I now conduct.
Shakespeare’s sonnet number 6 is about finding love. Through diction and comparisons he is able to describe how the love he acquired in his life took over and how it affected his life. In my poem I tried to use similar diction and word choice in efforts to create the same effect. My poem is about finding love, but with a little bit of a modern twist. I used Shakespeare’s phrase, “self destroy,” and changed the word usage in order to create a different effect. I used the word in hopes of the reader seeing that the former being was not the same after finding love. Once found, the girl was no longer just living for herself, but for also someone else. Therefore, her once former being and life was eagerly destroyed and left behind in order to peruse the fulfilling essence of love.
Sonnet 1
ReplyDeleteFrom fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And tender churl mak'st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
Sonnet .5
For thou are half of me and half of you
Because you are not one but two souls deep
Man must recognize, hindrance to get through
Thickness proceeds your name but does not reek
Your life will only falter if you do not conceive
Many may come but do choose only one
The message in the bottle that be perceived
Will produce not a flower but a garden of thine son
Your lover’s embrace will not disgrace
To admit you fall short is not a sin
Although there will be some time, different pace
Do find to comfort your soul, whiskey or gin
To fulfill the brine which began ages ago
Do not extinguish the flame with a blow.
Symbolism is present in both poems. For Shakespeare’s Sonnet 1, a rose is able to symbolize a woman, also as part of mother nature. In my Sonnet .5, I symbolize gin as being an escape door. Both poems have an underlying theme of an older man looking back and telling a younger man to procreate.
Sonnet 1
ReplyDeleteFrom fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
Nature's Way
Thou's face hath born fresh and new,
So soft, tender, full of youth,
Thous body perfect as it grew,
Only future should hold thees truth:U
Thous perfection same as thine,
But seemed to change in the mirror,
Thous skin once tight and fine
Compared to thines became inferior:
Time shall come as nature does,
Take away thys youth and domineer,
This is a common terror of thee because
Thee sees thou emitting fear:
Art thou fearing to alter and grow old?
Nature shall come as it does please and thous body does as told.
Shakespeare's Sonnet 1 alludes to nature's power. It sees in to the future and the past as I tried to show by the natural aging process from birth forward. Shakespeare reveals youth's beauty and nature's as well by the effect i has over us as humans. He talks about ripening which represents the extended time that comes with nature. Time makes us vulnerable because of the toll it can take on our souls and physical appearance. Nature is a beautiful thing, but it can be worrisome to humans.
@Mcloud: excellent job grasping the theme of your poem.
ReplyDelete@Cassie: I liked how you repeated certain diction in your sonnet that Shakespeare used.
@Alexander: great job reinventing Shakespeare's sonnet while maintaing the rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter.
@Taylor: I love the modern spin on Shakespeare's sonnet and great use of similar diction.
@Lauren: great work. Excellent identification of symbolism.
@K Smith: Nature is awe-inspiring, yet unpredictable and scary. Great job recognizing and capturing this.
ReplyDeleteSONNET 18
ReplyDeleteShall 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 dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
-William Shakespeare
The literary device known as an anaphora is utilized extensively throughout Shakespeare’s masterful sonnet. Many lines repeatedly begin with “And”, “Nor”, and “So long.” The repetition of these words at the beginning of each line helps had emphasis to the overall nature of the poem. Anaphora’s make the poem have more of an impact on the poem. Personification is also used in Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. Line 3 describes “rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.” The month of May itself does not have buds, therefore personification was utilized. Diction was also a literary device that help add to the effect of this sonnet. Summer was characterized as “eternal’ signifying that it was almost as if summer would last forever. This attention-to-detail used by Shakespeare allowed for him to properly elaborate all of the minute details that helped make this sonnet into a masterpiece.
SONNET 50
ReplyDeleteHow heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek (my weary travel's end)
Doth teach that case and that repose to say
'Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend.'
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know
His rider loved not speed being made from thee:
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on,
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide,
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side,
For that same groan doth put this in my mind,
My grief lies onward and my joy behind.
My Sonnet:
It was with her that I felt the purest passion,
Leagues upon leagues kept her at a distance
Yet only that which I fear most could sway my fashion
So I stumbled forward with a never waning persistence.
The journey, ever great, eventually rolled to a halt
My darling, I could see thy eyes twinkle in the moonlight
I pray to thee that one could forgive me, though it my fault
The river cast a spell, one, I could not fight.
Midnight fell across the valley while I waited out my torture
Crows flew into the trees, mocking me with their malevolent song
So many thoughts flew upon my mind until I was weak
I yearned for the sun to rise, but the wait was too long
It was then, my love, in which the decision was made
I shall never falter again until you grow tired of my charade.
My sonnet holds a depressing tale behind it up until the last line where it holds hope for the future. I incorporated some words such as “thy” and “thee” that adds some Shakespearean flair to my sonnet. Also I have some personification in my poem as I give the crows the act of mocking, which is not possible in their crow form. Along with that, it becomes apparent that I am talking to someone obviously not present which would make some of it an apostrophe. This links to the sonnet I chose because both speak of a journey being undertaken in which grief is present and lies ahead.