Competency 12: Produce Digital Multimedia

Educational or Professional Experiences

FOCUS QUESTION: HOW DOES SHAKESPEARE USE

LANGUAGE TO ADD COMPLEXITY AND MEANING TO HIS

SONNETS?

The most common types of creative language that we notice in Shakespeare’s sonnets are:RHYTHM, RHYME, IMAGERY, AND METAPHOR

Sonnets are 14 line poems that have a specific rhythm and a specific rhyme scheme.

Shakespeare wrote over 100 sonnets

WHAT IS A SONNET?

IAMBIC PENTAMETER: 10 syllables in each line

Five pairs of unstressed and stress syllables

The rhythm in each line sounds like:ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM /

ba-BUM

RHYTHM OF A SONNET

I ran a million miles to meet you there,

Where stars are seen in front of velvet skies

You forgot that we had promised toExplore the world until the day we

die.

EXAMPLE

1. Some music has the rhythm of the gods ____________________________________.2. The silence in my head is deafening ___________________________________.

YOU TRY:FINISH THE STANZA

A rhyme scheme is determined based on the sound of the last syllable of the line

ALL sonnets have the following rhyme scheme:

A

B

A

B

C

D

C

D

E

F

E

F

G

G

Let’s use sonnet 130 as an example to explore the rhyme scheme.

RHYME SCHEME OF THE SONNETS

Shakespeare’s poems contain imageryIMAGERY is when an author describes what is going on using the five senses,

creating an image in the reader’s head. The goal is to intensify the statement.

Instead of just saying “I am cold” an author would say, “my lips are turning blue and my

fingertips are numb.”

IMAGERY

DESCRIBE AN IMAGE:

Describe the image in detail, using at least 2 of the the 5 senses.

Describe the image in detail, using at least 4 of the the 5 senses.

DESCRIBE AN IMAGE:

DESCRIBE AN IMAGE:

Describe this image using any other sense besides sight.

USE IMAGERY TO INTENSIFY THESE STATEMENTS:

1. It is hot in here.2. My mouth is dry.

3. We walked in the snow.

IMAGERY IN SONNET 130:

How does Shakespeare describe his lover?:

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.

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

This slideshow is for a 9th grade ICT English class. It is designed to introduce the ideas of imagery to students as they explore Shakespeare’s sonnets. These pictures were downloaded and compiled

into a slideshow using PowerPoint.

EXPLANATION OF SLIDESHOW