SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

Not quite “much ado about nothing”

Shakespeare’s Sonnet #2WHEN forty winters shall besiege thy brow

And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,

Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,

Will be a tottered weed of small worth held:

Then being asked where all thy beauty lies,

Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,

To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes

Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.

How much more prasie deserved thy beauty's use

If thou couldst answer, 'This fair child of mine

Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,

‘Proving his beauty by succession thine.

This were to be new made when thou art old

And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st cold.

RHYMING

Iambic Pentameter: what is it? An iambic “foot” is one unstressed

syllable followed by a stressed syllable

˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow

The symbol ˘/ is used to show an iambic foot. The “ ˘ ” shows the unstressed syllable and the “ / “ shows the

stressed syllable.

Iambic Pentameter: What is it? Meter is the basic rhythm structure

of a poem…”the beat” you hear when you read it

Pentameter is meter that occurs 5 times in a line Iambic Pentameter is a poetry form that

uses 5 iambic feet per line of the poem

˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow

Shakespeare’s Sonnets always following this rhyme scheme:

A When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,

B And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,

A Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,

B Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held:

C Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies,

D Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,

C To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes,

D Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.

E How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,

F If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine

E Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,'

F Proving his beauty by succession thine!

G This were to be new made when thou art old,G And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.

Rhyming PatternsNotice that

both “A” lines rhyme at the

end.

Each sequence of four (ABAB) is called a QUATRAIN

Sonnets will end in a couplet: what do you think that means?

What makes Shakespearean Sonnets Special?

Written in Iambic Pentameter They are 14 lines long They have 3 quatrains

and end in one couplet Follow the

ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyming scheme…

EVERY TIME!

IMAGERY

Siege

•Siege (noun): the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible.

Shakespeare uses this image to battling with age to describe our battle with growing older

“When forty winters shall beseige thy brow, And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field” (lines 1 and 2)

LIVERY“Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now, Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held”(lines 3 and 4)

Livery (noun):characteristic dress, garb, or outward appearance

Livery were beautiful, ceremonial clothes worn by servants and loyal men at arms

Shakespeare is pointing out how livery, a form of beauty, should be admired

Just like clothes, however, beauty will fade and pass away

TREASURE!•Shakespeare equates beauty with something of value…i.e. something that should be saved and passed on to others

• Do you think beauty is so important?