Shakespeare and his sonnets

william shakespeare• Born 1564 and died in 1616• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon• Considered the greatest

English writer of all time• His plays and sonnets have

translated into all languages,musicals and ballets

information you might not hear

• Shakespeare was a teen father: he married a pregnant, 26 year old Anne Hathaway when he was 18 years old

• Was the father of twins• Could be considered a “deadbeat dad,” as he left

his wife and children for a London stage career.• Some of his writings may have been plagiarized;

he was accused of stealing ideas for plays from the writer Christopher Marlowe

Playwright or poet?• Shakespeare is best known for his many stage plays.

Some of these titles include:• Romeo and Juliet• Hamlet• King Lear• A Midsummer Night’s Dream• The Taming of the Shrew• Macbeth• Much Ado About Nothing• Julius Caesar

• However, Shakespeare is also famous for writing SONNETS!

Sonnets• Sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines.• There are two common species of sonnet,

distinguished by their rhyme scheme• Italian• Shakespearean

• The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains and a couplet.

• The rhyme scheme for a Shakesperean sonnet is typically abab cdcd efef gg

Quatrain and couplet• Quatrain: a four-lined stanza in a poem.• Couplet: a two-line portion of a poem that usually

rhymesShall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the buds of May,And summer’s lease hath all to 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 fadeNor 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.

QuatrainQuatrainQuatrainCouplet

Iambic pentameter• Shakespearean sonnets are written in iambic

pentameter.• Iambic pentameter is a particular rhythm used in lines of

poetry.• It is measured in small groups of syllables called “feet.”• “Iambic” signifies the type of foot that is used:

unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables.• “Pentameter” indicates that a line has five of these

“feet” or combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Shakespearean turn• Most Shakespearean sonnets include a

feature called a turn.

• This turn is the moment in the poem where the theme or tone (writer’s attitude) changes in a surprising way.

Sonnet 18• Read and annotate the sonnet for the

following:• Label the quatrains and couplet• Label the rhyme scheme• Paraphrase the sonnet line-for-line• Note any poetic devices that you see present• Label the “turn” in the tone of the poem