Aim: How can further implementation of our poetry skills enhance our exploration and analysis of Shakespearean Sonnets?
Do Now: With your partner, consider the word “Summer”. What symbolic meanings or connotations are usually associated with this word? Why?
As the lesson was distributed to be done asynchronously, there was no discussion to be had about the meaning of the word summer. Still, the word summer can be thought of as to have a positive connotation, as it marks the end of a school year and the beginning of vacation.
The lesson’s focus was a specific style of poems called sonnets, developed by the famous author William Shakespeare. Shakespearean sonnets follow strict rules as opposed to free verse. Traditionally, sonnets are about romance and are divided into four parts- three quatrains, or stanzas of four, and then a rhyming “couplet” of two lines at the end.
The first quatrain introduces the subject
Second quatrain complicates the subject
The couplet resolves or alters the subject in some way.
The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a style that Shakespeare perfected and became known for. In addition to these rules, sonnets have form for syllables. Each syllable in a word is either hard or soft based on pronunciation. Hard syllables are marked with a’s and soft ones with u’s.
An iambic foot has two syllables, one unstressed and the other stressed. Iambic measure is a meter that can be likened to the human heart.
After reviewing these essential rules, students watched a YouTube video summarizing Iambic pentameter. Following that, students were instructed to read and analyze Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”, while keeping the following chart in mind.
Sonnet 18
1 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
11 Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
13 So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Students proceeded to answer questions concerning Sonnet 18. Each quatrain was analyzed, with the first regarding comparisons to summer and the second regarding issues within the season. Finally, students discussed the theme of Sonnet 18.
Sonnet 130
1 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,
2 Coral is far more red, than her lips red,
3 If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun:
4 If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head:
5 I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
6 But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
7 And in some perfumes is there more delight,
8 Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
9 I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
11 I grant I never saw a goddess go, E
12 My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
13 And yet by heaven I think my love as rare,
14 As any she belied with false compare.
This second sonnet, titled “Sonnet 130”, describes the speaker’s judgement of his mistress that has a bit of a twist at the end. Though the mistress has much flaws that he points out, he makes sure to show that he wouldn’t pick anyone over her. Students were then asked to answer more questions pertaining to each quatrain.
My personal reflection over this session/lesson was that though it was challenging, it was extremely interesting. This window into old English literature gives a view to times predating many legendary works of literature. This lesson has brought a greater understanding to all literature altogether.
No comments:
Post a Comment