Sonnet

29

Willi

am S

hakes

peare

Erin Sweeney

William Shakespeare: Biographical BackgroundBorn 1564, Died 1616

Famous British Playwright (38 Plays) and Poet during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I

Published Shakespeare’s Sonnets in 1609 – 154 sonnets, dates of creation unknown

Two Contrasting Sonnet Series: • uncontrollable lust for a married

woman of dark complexion (the "dark lady"),

• conflicted love for a fair young man (the "fair youth").

Themes: meditations on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreation, success, death, and time

Title Page of 1609 Edition

The

First

Quat

rain

anal

ysis

of th

e sp

eake

r’s in

itial

dile

mm

a

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate

Beginning = Question? Statement?

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate

Clarification: Speaker’s Problematic Initial

Situation

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate

Clarifying Phrases: Initial Situation of Solitude +

Despair

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate

Verbs: Outline Mechanisms of Despair

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate

Clues in Diction: Fate, Fortune, Heaven

Problem: Despair = Eternal Fate?

Rhyme, Conflicting Terms: Despair = Eternal Fate or Current (Escapable) State?