Read as many of Shakespeare's sonnets as you can stomach. Read 'em all if you can. I dare ya.
The Sonnets at Shakespeare Online
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Open Source Shakespeare
Write a say-play-imply, SOAPSTone + Theme, and/or TPCAST + Theme for three of the sonnets other than sonnet 130 by Friday (1/15) pumpkin time.
(If you're feeling inventive you cold -- for one of the responses -- write a modernized version of the sonnet in the manner of Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady".)
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33 comments:
SOAPStone & Theme
Sonnet 13
Speaker: Shakespeare to lover/young man
Occasion: It sounds as though this young person is not appreciative of his life and may not want to have children, but Shakespeare says that they should to continue their legacy.
Audience: the young person
Purpose: to convince them that their legacy should continue, and that they should be proud to be a father to someone
Tone: somewhat pleading, praising, loving
Theme: heritage is important
SOAPSTone & Theme
Sonnet 113
Speaker: Shakespeare to lover
Occasion: He has left his lover and misses them very much
Audience: The lover
Purpose: To let his lover know that he misses them and that they are all he thinks about. Everything that he sees is transformed into their image
Tone: sad, trapped, loving
Theme: Shakespeare misses his lover and can think of nothing else
SOAPSTone & Theme
Sonnet 131
Speaker: Shakespeare to the Dark Lady
Occasion: People are saying bad things about her, but Shakespeare is assuring her that she is as beautiful as she thinks she is
Audience: the Dark Lady
Purpose: to reassure her that he thinks that she is beautiful, but he also warns her that her behavior and not her looks give her a bad reputation
Tone: praising, warning
Theme: He thinks that she is beautiful, but should be careful how she conducts herself if she does not want to be put in a bad light.
Sonnet 131
You're kinda b*tchy, because you know you're hot. And you know I think you're a babe. Some guys say that you're face ain't so great. You can't really blame me if I don't wanna start a fight, because I think you're the hottest thing going. If I even think about your face, it gets me going. But you better watch yourself, babe, 'cause people will say stuff if you don't chill out.
And this is the original:
Sonnet 131
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;
For well thou know’st, to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.
Yet in good faith some say, that thee behold,
Thy face hath not the pow'r to make love groan.
To say they err I dare not be so bold,
Although I swear it to myself alone;
And to be sure that is not false, I swear
A thousand groans but thinking on thy face;
One on another’s neck do witness bear
Thy black is fairest in my judgment’s place.
In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,
And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds.
Sonnet 131
Speaker: Shakespeare to his lover/”Dark Lady”
Occasion: The speaker believes that others find his lady unattractive, but he can see her beauty.
Audience: The Dark Lady.
Purpose: To bring attention to the fact that he loves her, and can find the beauty in her but that others can not because of the way she behaves.
Tone: warning/loving
Theme: The speaker believes that his love is beautiful, but is warning her that her personality could give her a bad reputation.
Sonnet 132
Speaker: Shakespeare to the “Dark Lady”
Occasion: He is realizing that she does not love him.
Audience: The Dark Lady
Purpose: Shakespeare uses the metaphor of her eyes, and how they pity and mourn him to talk about how she does not feel the same way about him that he does her.
Tone: remorseful
Theme: The mourning of the lack of love that they share between them.
Sonnet 1
Speaker: Shakespeare to the “Fair young man”
Occasion: Shakespeare is getting old, and begs the boy to leave a successor.
Audience: The Fair young man, and possibly all who have no children.
Purpose: To ask the audience to leave someone behind when they die, so that they and their art can live on through their successors.
Tone: pleading.
Theme: How nature always reproduces, to leave the art and story of themselves through other people after they die.
T: Sonnet 1, although this title does not leave room for much interpretation I did go into the poem with an expection because it is the first sonnet. I thought perhaps Shakespeare’s earlier work would be much different from his work later or that his number one would be a powerful and perhaps the most meaningful of them all, to get him started at least.
P: We always want to be beautiful and hope to live forever, but death will come. But if you only let in your own commentary about yourself, and feed your ego with your own words you could end up being your own worst enemy and become bitter. You’ll eventually hide your feelings and waste your days being petty and pitying the rest of world because God forbid you succumb to the world’s cruelty and die that way.
C: The connotation is obviously very Shakespearean. It is easier to understand with its simple comparisons but hard also because of the difference in diction between today and then.
A: The tone is warning people of something, saying, “Be careful what you do or this will happen”
S: It shifts after line 4 from talking about life and death to discussing how someone feels about themselves to being bitter about the world after line 10.
T: Now thinking about the title of number one it isn’t very significant to the sonnet much at all.
Theme: I think the theme is learning how to experience your self and live your life to the fullest without becoming bitter and hating the world’s mischief.
Sonnet 40
S: The speaker is someone who has just lost the love of their life
O: in this occasion they are saying although everything they love is taken away from them, its easier to deal with that pain then with realizing what they actually did wrong.
A: Said to the ‘gentle thief’ who took the speaker’s love away
P: The purpose Shakespeare is trying to make is to explain the difficulty of having your love leave you for someone else, but not being angry at that person more than your angry at yourself for letting your love get away and come to this.
S: The subject is the speaker himself.
T: Painful evaluation of yourself as a lover because your love left you, so moody and accepting of the thief but mostly self-critical.
Theme: Dealing with yourself once all you have is gone.
Sonnet 151:
Say: This sonnet discusses the rising and falling of love, especially when it comes to unfaithfulness because of the body’s temptations. Having a conscience is discussed wether it comes out love or if love doesn’t have a conscience at all. The speaker also touches upon self-betrayal and guilty feelings.
Play: Shakespeare uses visuals of the body such as born, body, flesh to call attention to the physical desires of people in love. He also repeats betrayal and triumph to perhaps contrast the behaviors and outline the paths someone could take in this situation.
Imply: As the sonnet shifts with the Volta, “to stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.” Implying that if you continue with these flesh affairs then you will lessen yourself. Maybe he is a “poor drudge to be” but her for her love he will continue to “rise at thy name” or “fall by thy side”. Decisions come to us, a lot of the time very tempting but your conscience will be there to tell you when you fell or rose.
SONNET 14
SOAPSTONE:
S: speaker: Shakespeare, a poet trying to reach out to the person who loves.
O: Occasion: The time has come where it has finally hit the author that his lover will eventually die, and he feels that this poem will be a way of telling her to pass on her traits to a future generation.
A: Audience: Shakespeare’s lover.
P: Purpose: The purpose of the sonnet is for the poet to show his lover how he does not deduce his knowledge from the stars, his own reasoning, and elsewhere, but only listens to the knowledge that his lover provides him. He wishes for his lover to share their knowledge by either sharing it or having a child, or else he is scared that all the information they have provided to him will be lost when they die.
S: Subject: The subject of the sonnet is that his lover has been all Shakespeare really knows, and how Shakespeare has become so dependent on him/her that he fears that once they are gone, so will the knowledge they have given to him.
Tone: The tone of the sonnet would be gracious for all that his lover has taught him and a sense of urgency to his lover to pass along their traits by having children.
Theme: The theme would be how it is necessary to pass along a person’s traits/knowledge or else they will be lost forever once they have passed away.
TPCAST:
T: Title: Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck. – The author doesn’t make his judgments by looking at the stars, but from another inspiration.
P: Paraphrase: The poet is writing to his lover that he does not receive his knowledge from his own judgments, or from any other source, but only from his lover. He feels that his lover should find some way to reproduce their knowledge so it won’t be lost once they have died.
C: Connotation: The connotation of the poem seems to be gracious and admirable towards his lover. He compares her eyes to “constant stars” that hold “truth and beauty”. It appears that he is very thankful to have his lover.
A: Attitude: Admirable, gracious, thankful.
S: Shifts: On the 12th line, there is a shift to how Shakespeare was once talking
about his lover’s share knowledge and shifts to how his lover should share their knowledge through recreation.
T: Title: The title definitely hints to what the poem will lead to. He finds his knowledge through the person he loves.
T: Theme: The theme would be how it is necessary to pass along a person’s traits/knowledge or else they will be lost forever once they have passed away.
SONNET 71
SOAPSTONE:
Speaker: Shakespeare, a poet, who is trying to explain to his loved ones to not
mourn too much over death.
Occasion: The time has come where the author is starting to feel old, and does not want the people he cares about the most, to spend all their time mourning about his death. He writes this poem so that they realize that they can be sad, but have to move forward with their lives, rather than live in the past.
Audience: Shakespeare’s loved ones (family, friends, and lovers) who he fears will all waste time mourning his death once he passes away.
Purpose: The purpose of this sonnet is for how Shakespeare does not want the people he cares about to be mourn too much over his death. He feels that he would rather have them forget about him, rather than waste time being sad because of him. If they waste too much mourning over his death, than he thinks the world will start to criticize them.
Subject: The subject of the sonnet is that as Shakespeare grows older, eventually he will no longer be around his family, and tells them that he does not want them to mourn over his death.
Tone: The tone is slightly hopeless as if he is giving up, but the poet is trying to comfort his loved ones as if to say they will be okay with out him.
Theme: The theme of this sonnet is to tell the people he cares about to move on with their lives, and to not let his death affect them so much that it keeps them in the past.
TPCAST:
Title: No longer mourn for me when I am dead- The author is going to talk about how he doesn’t want whomever he is writing to, to think about the past from when he was alive, but to move on and continue to live life.
Paraphrase: The poet feels that he is getting older, and doesn’t want his loved ones to waste too much of their time being sad over his death. He would rather they completely forget about them, than have them think too much about the past. The poet also feels that if they live too much in the past from when he was alive, the world will begin to scorn them for not living in the present.
Connotation: The connotation of the words show that the author is growing hopeless, as he says phrases like “Give warning to the world that I am fled.
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell.” He plans to be with the “vilest worms” meaning his grave, and therefore has given up on his life, and uses reassuring words to his loved ones to not miss him as he says, “But let your love even with my life decay”, meaning to let their love begin to decay, just as his body in his grave will.
Attitude: Hopeless, Reassuring to his friends, family, etc.
Shifts: The shift of this sonnet is when the poet says, “Lest the wise world should look into your moan” because he shifts his attention to the fact that he wants his loved ones to forget about him, to the fact that they may not be respected if they live too much in the past.
Title: The title definitely portrayed what the poem was going to be about, as said in the first “Title” of TPCAST.
Theme: The theme of this sonnet is to tell the people he cares about to move on with their lives, and to not let his death affect them so much that it keeps them in the past.
SONNET 104
SOAPSTONE:
Speaker: Shakespeare to his lover.
Occasion: Shakespeare finds that no matter how much time passes, but the beauty of his lover is still present, and wants to tell his lover this through this poem.
Audience: Shakespeare’s lover.
Purpose: The purpose of this sonnet is for Shakespeare to express how his lover’s beauty is timeless. Time passes, and his lover does not change through Shakespeare’s eyes. Shakespeare finally comes to the conclusion that beauty did not even exist until his lover was born.
Subject: The subject of the sonnet is that Shakespeare is portraying how time has passed, but his love for his significant other is eternal.
Tone: The tone of the sonnet is passionate, even over time. Shakespeare still remains to be thoroughly in love with his lover and continues to admire his lover’s beauty.
Theme: The theme of the poem is to show how Shakespeare will forever think his lover is eternally beautiful, because he never thought such beauty existed until he met his lover.
TPCAST:
Title: To me, fair friend, you never can be old- The author plans to talk about how despite a person’s age, they can still act young.
Paraphrase: Shakespeare has realized that seasons have passed, and times have changed, but his views of his lover have remained the same. He wants to explain this to his lover through this sonnet. He also realizes that he never knew what true beauty was in his mind until he met his lover.
Connotation: Shakespeare’s connotation in the sonnet is everlastingly admiring of his lover. He uses words such as “Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green, Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand” and furthermore, “So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand.”
Attitude: Admiring, passionate.
Shift: The shift in the poem would be the 3rd to last line, “Hath motion and mine eye may be deceived:” and it goes on to say to how it doesn’t matter how much time passes because he feels that he had never encountered this kind of beauty until he saw his lover.
Title: My first attempt at the title was wrong…Shakespeare wanted his lover to know about how his love for them and their beauty will both remain timeless.
Theme: The theme of the poem is to show how Shakespeare will forever think his lover is eternally beautiful, because he never thought such beauty existed until he met his lover.
Sonnet 33
Full many a glorious morning have I seen,
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green;
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy:
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride,
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:
Even so my sun one early morn did shine,
With all triumphant splendour on my brow,
But out alack, he was but one hour mine,
The region cloud hath masked him from me now.
Yet him for this, my love no whit disdaineth,
Suns of the world may stain, when heaven's sun staineth.
Subject: The poet is comparing his love (in this case a young man) to the sun and lamenting when clouds hide the sun and when his love has to leave.
Occasion: This sonnet seems to have been written when the love has left the poet for a while and the poet misses him.
Audience: The poet doesn’t seem to be talking to the love himself although this sonnet might be something that he gives to his love. It more feels like the poet is talking to himself or the world.
Purpose: The purpose of this sonnet is for the poet to express his feelings about his love leaving him.
Speaker: The speaker of this sonnet, the poet, is William Shakespeare.
Tone: Matter-of-fact at the beginning, Longing after the Volta.
Theme: The theme of this sonnet is just as sometimes the sun is covered by clouds, sometimes love doesn’t always go perfectly and we should enjoy the time we have with our loves.
H. Ono
117
S: lover, man, traveler
O: after the speaker has gone far away from his lover
A: to lover, wives or lovers off people who go far away
P: This tries to give an explanation as to why the man has to go away. Some people with multiple partners may use this excuse.
S: This is about a man who is testing his lover to see how much she loved him. Many poems are known for their faithful women who wait forever for their love but this poem goes against this and has a woman resenting the wait. It goes far enough to say that just receiving a frown is fortunate.
T: trying to reason, unrepentant, this is me, funny or clumsy
T: there are consequences to actions, relationships need to have contact, reality of relationships
Sonnet 18
Speaker: Shakespeare is speaking to his lover.
Occasion: The speaker is proving his love to his lover.
Audience: It is being spoken to the speaker’s beloved.
Purpose: The purpose is to say that summer is not perfect, but his lover is. Shakespeare explains that summer is too short and often to hot, whereas his lover is always warm and affectionate. He also believes she is faithful because he feels she will never leave him. Shakespeare also makes a point in saying that she rational and predictable and this is why he loves her. He is trying to say that there are no hidden misfortunes lurking underneath the surface.
Subject: The subject of the sonnet is that the speaker is proving his love for his lover. He explains that she is loving and affectionate. He believes that his lover has no secret problems in her life. Shakespeare wants to get across that her mere presence gives life to others.
Tone: Reassuring love.
Theme: The theme of Sonnet 18 is that true love overtakes any other type of adoration.
Sonnet 34
Speaker: The speaker seems to be talking to himself about his lover and recollecting on a misfortunate event.
Occasion: The speaker has been caught off guard and accused of possibly cheating on his lover by his lover. This forces him to say recite this sonnet to himself, which allows him to see the mistakes he has made.
Audience: The sonnet is being spoken to the speaker by the speaker.
Purpose: The purpose of this sonnet is to allow the speaker to think about what he has done. By speaking to himself he is able to see how he has hurt his lover. The purpose of this sonnet is also to show that all people have emotions and can feel pain, and it is important to respect this.
Subject: The subject of this sonnet is that the speaker has obviously done something to hurt his lover’s feelings. This could have been a secret affair the speaker was having. Despite the speaker’s repenting, he cannot be content until he makes his lover happy.
Tone: Regretful, and ashamed.
Theme: The theme of sonnet 34 is that a person can never being entirely content until they know that they have resolved all afflictions they have caused.
Sonnet 85
Title: My tongue-tied muse in manners holds her still. – The speaker in a gaze cannot find the courage to speak his mind to a woman aloud.
Paraphrase: The speaker is pondering in his head the perfect words to say to a certain woman. He is becoming more and more frustrated with himself that he cannot find the strength to actually tell her things words. With the words flawlessly arranged, he continues to remain stationary with no attempt at talking aloud. The speaker is obviously a shy man with brilliant and flattering thoughts, but who unfortunately cannot say them.
Connotation: The connotation of the sonnet seems to be frustration and envious. The speaker is frustrated at himself when he says “But that is in my thought…me for my dumb thoughts.” The speaker is envious of others for being able to speak freely when he says “ Then others, for the breath of words respect.”
Attitude: Frustrated, jealous, and trapped.
Shift: On the 11th line, there is a shift in the speaker’s tone from sounding shy and educated to appearing frustrated and envious of others. The speaker from this point on no longer appears quiet yet confident with himself. He seems to hate himself for his inability to freely speak his mind.
Title: The title sets a tone to how the sonnet will play out by providing an image of a timid man by the bar watching a beautiful woman from afar. Unfortunately the speaker never gets the confidence to speak even by the end of the sonnet.
Theme: The theme of sonnet 85 is that despite the fluidity and adoration of a person’s thoughts toward another, they will die with you unless you are able to express them aloud or in writing.
XVIII
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Title: The title indicates that she may be fair like a summer’s day, but predicts the untruth of that statement by posing it as a question.
Paraphrase: The poem states that the maiden is fairer than a summer’s day, which is a happy note. Then it talks about all the problems with summer, giving the reader a negative feeling. It ends saying that none of these negative aspects apply to her, as her “eternal summer shall not fade”.
Connotation: Shakespeare initially brings up the image of a “summer’s day” in relation to his lover. We associate a summer’s day with warmth, happiness, and good things all around. He then proceeds to shatter our ideas of what summer means when he describes it as “too short, too hot, dimmed” and all around not that great.
Attitude: Shakespeare is contradicting in this poem. He superficially acts like he is praising his lover, but when you think deeper you realize he’s twisting it so that his meaning is confused.
Shift: After line 2; you realize that his comparison to a summer’s day may not be a compliment. After line 8; he brings it back to a happy tone, saying that she is better than that awful image of summer.
Title: After reading this poem I think maybe he shouldn’t actually compare her to a summer’s day. At first that seems like a complement to anybody, no matter how fair they are, but after his description of summer that’s probably going to be an insult to pretty much anyone.
Theme: The theme of Sonnet 18 is that people’s preconceptions aren’t based on real facts, and they can lead a reader astray. He forces you to learn this by example, as you think he’s complimenting his lover by comparing her to summer, but by the end of the poem you realize how much of an insult that is.
CXXXVI
Sonnet 136
If thy soul check thee that I come so near,
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will,
And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there;
Thus far for love, my love-suit, sweet, fulfil.
Will, will fulfil the treasure of thy love,
Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one.
In things of great receipt with ease we prove
Among a number one is reckoned none:
Then in the number let me pass untold,
Though in thy store's account I one must be;
For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold
That nothing me, a something sweet to thee:
Make but my name thy love, and love that still,
And then thou lovest me for my name is 'Will.'
Speaker: A devoted admirer of a lady, who probably doesn’t love him back
Occasion: He finds himself desperate for this unrequited love
Audience: Theoretically he is talking to the woman he adores, but I’m not sure he is ever actually going to say this to her
Purpose: Either to plead with her to love him, or to express his feelings of frustration at her lack of love for him
Subject: The speaker is pleading with a woman to love him back, but in a deeper sense he’s trying to justify his blind devotion towards her. By stating all the reasons why she should love him, and making it seem obvious that she should love him, he makes himself seem less desperate and weird for his excessive adoration of her.
Tone: Pleading but confused/confusing at the same time. He makes tongue-twisters out of several lines (ex. “Will, will fulfill the treasure of thy love, Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one”), in order to make the reader look them over several times, and even after that still be somewhat unsure of the true meaning behind it
Theme: unrequited love
CXLI
Sonnet 141
In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote.
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted;
Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast with thee alone:
But my five wits nor my five senses can
Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,
Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,
Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be:
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That she that makes me sin awards me pain.
Speaker: A disillusioned, frank, but very true lover
Occasion: I think the speaker has just come to realize that his lover is really quite imperfect, but he loves her anyway, and he trying to voice his feelings
Audience: Again, it’s intended for his lover, but I don’t think he would ever actually say this to her, as it would be a pretty hard thing for a girl to hear without taking it the wrong way
Purpose: To attack the idea that beauty is love, and love should be based on how beautiful someone is, not on how much they mean to you
Subject: The imperfections of his lover, but the perfection of his love for her. That he loves her completely regardless of how she looks, and that even though she’s ugly, she’s beautiful to him in more meaningful ways.
Tone: Wry truthfulness, that he knows the truth, but ignores it/ isn’t affected by it, anyway
Theme: true love
SONNET 71
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O! if, I say, you look upon this verse,
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse;
But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.
Speaker: The speaker is a man who is aware and accepting of death, particularly his own.
Occasion: He’s begun, possibly at random, thinking of death, the weight it has on surrounding people, and how he hopes his death will affect others.
Audience: His friends, family, acquaintances. He directs the sonnet’s message at anyone he feels would mourn his death.
Purpose: The purpose of the sonnet is to excuse those, who he loves and cares for, from the obligation and initial emotion they will feel after death. To be sad and reminiscent is common, but Shakespeare, convinced that there is no good in being remembered, requests and nearly forces his love ones to forget.
Subject: The subject is death and mourning, to be grateful for what one has left behind or to be sad that they can create no more.
Tone: There is a shift in the sonnet, where he begins to seems harsh towards mourners, as though he thinks its pointless and therefore stupid to grieve. Lines 13-14 read, “lest the wise world should look into your moan, and mock you with me after I am gone”. “Mock you with me…” perfectly illustrates his outlook. He encourages his audience to take the advice and act on it, and if they choose not to, he won’t pity their foolishness.
Theme: The theme is death: what emotions result from it, compared to what the one who died would have wanted them to be. There is subtle argument within the lines of the sonnet: is it better to be remembered or forgotten after death? Would you rather your love ones be in pain, or be credited for all that you’ve left the world with? Shakespeare feels very strongly that what he accomplished, the words he’s wrote, the lines he’s spoke, should be thrown out into the universe without his name and his memory attached to it, to save his friends and family from the pain of his loss.
SONNET 27
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
For then my thoughts--from far where I abide--
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.
Speaker: A man that is physically tired and on his way to bed, when he uncovers an adventurous and creative side of himself.
Occasion: The author feels physically tired and drained, and makes his way to his bed. At a time when, typically, one would rest themselves, he initiates a journey that, although not physically demanding, has the potential to be occupying.
Audience: He was writing simply to convey an experience of mind and body, to himself or to another listener.
Purpose: The purpose is to illustrate that where physical adventures of the body may end, mental adventures begin and continue. Where one ends the other begins, and so on, entitling a person to infinite exploration.
Tone: Throughout the entire sonnet, the reader finds a sense of exploratory attitude within the author. He writes, “To work my mind, when body's work's expired: For then my thoughts--from far where I abide…”, as if he is uncovering this form of journey for the first time, with excitement.
Theme: The theme is adventure, exploration, and journeying. There is physical beyond mental and mental beyond physical, and so on. It symbolizes endless creativity and it shows the control one has over their own life.
SONNET 138
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O! love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.
Title: When my love swears that she is made of truth…- The author intends to criticize his lover for being dishonest with him.
Paraphrase: The truth of everything- love, existence, purpose- is determined only by love. A 60 year old man may be young, if love says it is so.
Connotation: “Seeming trust” indicates that trust, as it is known in friendships, relationships, etc., could be completely reliant on falseness. “In our faults by lies we flattered be” represents the harmlessness in love’s lies. Regardless of the truth or lies that led them there, the couple remains flattered with one another, and that is all that matters.
Attitude: The author is content and satisfied with the truth about love’s lies, because he is aware of their purpose and the goodness they serve.
Shift: Line 9, “But wherefore says she not she is unjust?” is the moment that Shakespeare actually shows the reader that he is under the influence of love’s power. He shows that he believes the lies to be true, so they are therefore his truths.
Title: Therefore I lie with her, and she with me, And in our faults by lies we flattered be.-Love’s definition of truth is the truth in every other aspect of life, even if it is a lie. Regardless the validity of a statement or a belief, if it is in the best interest of love, it is a truth.
Theme: The theme is emphasizing the power of love and the influence it has over its victims. It shows that when two people are in love, if something is beneficial to the relationship, it isn’t a lie regardless of its truth. This idea makes the structure of the sonnet confusing, yet it pushes the reader to think… can truth and lies actually be interchangeable? The way that that Shakespeare writes it certainly states so.
SONNET 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Title: You Resemble a Summer’s Day
Paraphrase: Should I compare you to a warm day? / You are more beautiful and steady / Bad times do not change your beauty / and summer’s beauty does not last as long as yours / summer’s heat is too much to handle / and sometimes its beauty can fade / the good of the good times are not always there / by chance or naturally summer can not always be controlled / but its beauty never fades (referring to you) / it does not lose the beauty in which it owns / not even death could take it away / you will forever grow more beautiful / as long as people love and eyes can see / my love will remain and grow
Connotation of words and images: formal. he uses words referring to nature such as summer, heaven, shade, life, buds, wind, etc. he uses this to compare someone’s beauty to the beauty of natural and how real it is. Images: gold complexion-nothing more beautiful than gold, rough winds not shaking the buds of May-ever lasting, strong, true.
Attitude: Admiring, positive, comparative
Shifts: “but thy eternal summer shall not fade” here, the shift is from the bad things of summer that the girl does not resemble to the good things about herself that summer does not have.
Title again: As Long as Men Can Breathe, My Love Will Grow
Theme: true love sees the beauty in faults, it is everlasting.
SONNET 40
Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.
Then, if for my love, thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest;
But yet be blam'd, if thou thy self deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty:
And yet, love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes.
Speaker: Shakespeare to his lover
Occasion: His lover has hurt him, they seem to have fought but he can not be mad at her.
Audience: His lover
Purpose: he is trying to tell her what to do –“take them all.” Shakespeare is also telling her how he feels toward her and whatever has happened
Subject: Shakespeare is telling his lover to take by her love and he will take his because she is taking advantage of him. He is not hurt that she took everything, but more hurt that she took away his love. “Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes,” hurt be anyway but I can not hate you.
Tone: Upset, forgiving
Theme: to forgive when something has hurt you so that you can move on
SONNET 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Title: You Resemble a Summer’s Day
Paraphrase: Should I compare you to a warm day? / You are more beautiful and steady / Bad times do not change your beauty / and summer’s beauty does not last as long as yours / summer’s heat is too much to handle / and sometimes its beauty can fade / the good of the good times are not always there / by chance or naturally summer can not always be controlled / but its beauty never fades (referring to you) / it does not lose the beauty in which it owns / not even death could take it away / you will forever grow more beautiful / as long as people love and eyes can see / my love will remain and grow
Connotation of words and images: formal. he uses words referring to nature such as summer, heaven, shade, life, buds, wind, etc. he uses this to compare someone’s beauty to the beauty of natural and how real it is. Images: gold complexion-nothing more beautiful than gold, rough winds not shaking the buds of May-ever lasting, strong, true.
Attitude: Admiring, positive, comparative
Shifts: “but thy eternal summer shall not fade” here, the shift is from the bad things of summer that the girl does not resemble to the good things about herself that summer does not have.
Title again: As Long as Men Can Breathe, My Love Will Grow
Theme: true love sees the beauty in faults, it is everlasting.
SONNET 40
Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.
Then, if for my love, thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest;
But yet be blam'd, if thou thy self deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty:
And yet, love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes.
Speaker: Shakespeare to his lover
Occasion: His lover has hurt him, they seem to have fought but he can not be mad at her.
Audience: His lover
Purpose: he is trying to tell her what to do –“take them all.” Shakespeare is also telling her how he feels toward her and whatever has happened
Subject: Shakespeare is telling his lover to take by her love and he will take his because she is taking advantage of him. He is not hurt that she took everything, but more hurt that she took away his love. “Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes,” hurt be anyway but I can not hate you.
Tone: Upset, forgiving
Theme: to forgive when something has hurt you so that you can move on
SONNET 46
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie,
A closet never pierc'd with crystal eyes,
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impannelled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety, and the dear heart's part:
As thus: mine eye's due is thine outward part,
And my heart's right, thine inward love of heart.
Monderized:
My eyes and my heart are wrestling each other, trying to figure out who will take over which sight. My eyes and my heart are fighting over the pictures they see. My heart does not believe what my eyes see, because it sees something else. In my heart your image is hidden. But my eyes say this is a lie. To figure out the truth, my thoughts will decide, everyone sides with my heart. Once they decided, the eyes see clear, and the heart has its part. So this is what my thoughts have found: my eyes can see your outsides, while my heart is able to see the love you have in your heart.
Terri Moody
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
TITLE- How do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43)
PARAPHRASE- Makes analogies about how much he loves someone
CONNOTATION- Shakespeare equates the freedom of his love with the freedom that mankind strives for. Distance is used in lines two and three to show the love of the narrator is large. The narrator says that he loves his love with all of his necessary functions of life- such as breath and hopes to do it after death.
ATTITUDE-Honest telling of emotions.
SHIFT-The thirteenth and fourteenth lines change from all the ways in life that he will love her to the fact that he will love her after death.
TITLE-How Do I Love Thee
THEME- Deep and passionate love
You Are to My Thoughts as Food is to Life (Sonnet 75)\
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet seasoned show'rs are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then bettered that the world may see my pleasure;
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight
And by and by clean starvèd for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
Say- A person who is in love but cannot decide whether they get too much of their partner or too little narrates. The narrator is indecisive.
Play – This sonnet’s connotation likens the lover being in his thoughts as being vital to his well-being as is food to life. He also likens his love to money.
Imply- In this poem it is implied that sometimes when you love someone you can be around them or with too much or too little and you will never be satisfied.
Sonnet 91
Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their body’s force,
Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill,
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse;
And every humor hath his adjunct pleasure,
Wherein it finds a joy above the rest.
But these particulars are not my measure;
All these I better in one general best.
Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost,
Of more delight than hawks or horses be;
And having thee, of all men’s pride I boast;
Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take
All this away, and me most wretched make.
SPEAKER-Shakespeare to Love
OCCASION-Shakespeare is telling his love that he finds pride in their relationship opposed to the various things that people find pride in.
AUDIENCE-His Love
PURPOSE-To tell his love that he would boast about how she makes me him feel rich. And to fathom the fact that if his Love left he would be “Wretched”.
SUBJECT- That the love of a person is enough to make Shakespeare not only content but proud of something.
TONE-Deep and passionately in love, but surprised and a little flabbergasted that if his love were taken away he would have nothing to live for.
THEME-You give me a reason to hold my head up high. Without you I am nothing.
Or I shall live your epitaph to make,
Or you survive when I in earth am rotten;
From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I, once gone, to all the world must die:
The earth can yield me but a common grave,
When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie.
Your monument shall be my gentle verse,
Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read,
And tongues to be your being shall rehearse
When all the breathers of this world are dead;
You still shall live--such virtue hath my pen--
Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men.
Title: “Or I shall live your epitaph to make”
Paraphrase: Whoever lives longer, it doesn’t matter because I will be forgotten while you will be remembered because of my poem.
Connotations: “Pen” in line 13 is a metonymy for writing
The earth is personified in line 7
Line 12, Breathers is a synecdoche
Attitude/Tone: praiseful
Shift: Line 9
Title: The title really sets the tone for this poem, speaking about death.
Theme: Death is not the end if you are remembered.
Sonnet 15
When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and cheque'd even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.
TPCAST
Title: Granting Immortality
Paraphrase: Shakespeare comments that everything that grows has a prime, and in having a moment of idealistic exaltation, inevitably falling follows. The concept of the brief period of his perfection further elevates his splendor in the poet’s eyes. This leads him to further the youth of his existence as time inevitably erodes away his vitality.
Connotation: By paralleling the fostering element of the sky to plants and man, the concept of the waning of life with the diminishing sun becomes evident. If the sun and stars provide the energy for plants to flourish, and die in the absence of it in the winter, then the same life energy vitalizes man, and plunges him into senescence as the light of life dims. Valuable, as time could be the manifestation of the cycle that brings forth the sun and also brings it down.
Attitude: Aware and sanguine in his aspiration to find solace in the inevitable stream of time.
Shift: “Then the conceit of this inconstant stay” Where he ends anticipating the inescapable, and begins to affirm that he will fight the constructs of time, to maintain his vibrant youth although he knows well it will physically erode away.
Title: Through my Verse, In Perennial Youth You Shall Remain
Theme: Although time, through its intrinsic nature of having no affiliation with matter, can not be altered in it’s path, Man through action, specifically here through verse and literature, can immortalize a concept or being.
Sonnet 53
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the spring and foison of the year;
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessed shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.
SOAPSTone + Theme
Speaker: Shakespeare to the Young Youth
Occasion: Shakespeare informs the Youth that although most have merely one shadow within the world which reflects their existence, he uniquely has millions of reflections which shine upon every object.
Audience: the Youth
Purpose: In stating that there exists reflections of his lover through the universe, in am multitude of manifestations, the poet reveals his own perspective of his lover. In that his mind finds affiliations with all object to the lover, and that when observing physical pieces of art, they merely are poor reflections of what he actually represents behind them.
Subject: The perspective that love assumes over you.
Tone: Lauding and evidently exalting.
Theme: The reality of that which you observe is that which is the focus of your consciousness.
Sonnet 80
Title: O, how I faint when I of you do write- He is writing about someone who he doesn’t like.
Paraphrase: The narrator is talking to another poet, who receives a lot of praise for work that does he does feel is deserved. The other poet is a rival, one whom the narrator is worried about not being able to compete with.
Connotation: The words
Attitude: Ironic.
Shift: Until line eleven, the poet’s frustration with his rival is only indirectly implied. Here the poet says that he is a poorly-built boat, while his rival is one of “goodly pride,” showing how he feels somewhat inferior to him. The poet says in the last line “my love was my decay.” He means that if he were to admire the rival poet’s work and not allow it to motivate him to do better, it would cause him to deteriorate as a poet.
Title: The sarcasm in the first line is apparent. The word “faint” makes it seem as if he admires the poet, when in fact he thinks he is highly overrated.
Theme: Competition.
Sonnet 19
Speaker: The poet views time as destructive to nature. He writes poetry to capture what he has before it is lost to time.
Occasion: Contemplating the worth of time and how to preserve yourself in it.
Audience: He addresses Time and appears to be directing his words towards it, but the message is for any person, since it discusses something that affects everyone.
Purpose: To point out something that cannot be changed and explore a way to adjust to it.
Subject: Time, certainty of the past and uncertainty of the future.
Tone: The tone is defiant. By saying that “ love shall in my verse ever live young,” he is in some small way defying the relentless force of time. Even though time will cause him to grow old, his words will always stay youthful.
Theme: Time and its effects on life.
Sonnet 69
Speaker: A friend of someone who is ugly but has a great mind.
Occasion: The subject of the poem is friends with immoral people who are not his true friends. He chooses to associate with them anyway and therefore adopts their immorality. In other words, a “fair flower” becomes the “rank smell of weeds.”
Audience: A person who associates with people who talk about him behind his back, especially negatively about his appearance.
Purpose: To capture the attention of the audience and have him reorganize his morals by changing who he is friends with.
Subject: The idea of changing yourself for other people.
Tone: Critical.
Theme: The superficiality of appearances/”you are who your friends are.”
Sonnet 107
Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Of the wide world dreaming on things to come,
Can yet the lease of my true love control,
Supposed as forfeit to a confined doom.
The mortal moon hath her eclipse endured
And the sad augurs mock their own presage;
Incertainties now crown themselves assured
And peace proclaims olives of endless age.
Now with the drops of this most balmy time
My love looks fresh, and death to me subscribes,
Since, spite of him, I'll live in this poor rhyme,
While he insults o'er dull and speechless tribes:
And thou in this shalt find thy monument,
When tyrants' crests and tombs of brass are spent.
SOAPStone + Theme
Speaker: Poet to a broad audience we name the ‘world stage’
Occasion: The speaker uses this instant to proclaim that his love is immortal, and does not contend with the uncertainties of the future.
Audience: Mankind/humanity
Purpose: The primal purpose of the sonnet is to affirm that inconsistencies and the capricious nature of reality does not detract from all. He offers himself and the audience reassurance through the consistent cycles of the moon that things can exist indefinitely. Through the verse the youth is eternally inscribed into existence, as will the poet continue to exist behind the script.
Subject: the immortality of verse
Tone: Optimism of the continuance of existence in another realm.
Theme: The triumph over whatever life is lived in the actually breathing life of a being, by the conceptualized and reborn existence they will attain for eternity through the monument of conscious creation.
Sonnet 1
Speaker: Shakespeare is the one speaking the sonnet.
Occasion: Realization of being old/getting old. Shakespeare is setting up a line of poems which deal with heirs and procreation.
Audience: Possibly the “young man” or maybe himself.
Purpose: To convince himself or the young man to procreate, to carry on their memories and experiences. Shakespeare feels he is getting old and cant bear to see the young man not have someone (another youth) to carry on his legacy. It might be that Shakespeare wants to be with the boy so that the young man would carry on that legacy.
Tone: Happy, but timid towards the future. I think he will start to look more into “self consumption”
Theme: Procreation, Gluttony.
Sonnet 18
Speaker : Shakespeare is the speaker of the sonnet again.
Occasion: Does there need to be an occasion to proclaim someones beauty? Shakespeare probably was over come with emotion and realization that beauty never fades.
Audience: It is directed to someone beautiful.
Purpose: To explain how the persons beauty cannot fade like the sun. It stays temperate year round, and there are no “rough winds” to disturb things.
Tone: Happy and Hopeful.
Theme: Beauty.
Sonnet 87:
Speaker: Shakespeare.
Occasion: A farewell address to his lover.
Audience: I’m going to say it is his lover because it would be weird to say goodbye in a loving way to someone he did not love. Unless maybe he is saying goodbye to love itself.
Purpose: The love subject or young man has rejected him and Shakespeare is saying his farewells in this sonnet. He is withdrawing from his love. It switches between Shakespeare saying that the boy is not good enough for him, too that he is not good enough for the boy. It is possible that Shakespeare does not mean some of the things he says (he would take back what he said years later).
Tone: Regret.
Theme: Betrayal.
H. Ono
H. Ono
Sonnet 90
S: a lover to another lover
O: This could be after the fortunes of the lover changes from good to bad.
A: to the love, other poets who write about love, young men who don't know the reality of love
P: The purpose is to say that a lover wants to know that he or she is hated before things go far in the relationship. It plays with the idea of "better to have recieved love than never" and turns it around into "better to have never recieved love than to recieve." This in some ways goes against "Romeo and Juliet" by saying that though they loved each other they are dead. Just as after losing a love feelings that if you are going to feel this bad it might have been better to never have loved especailly when you consider the statistics that show the high rate of suicides with a breakup.
S: The lover realizes that the loss of a lover is the greatest pain. If they need to face other problems and feel low losing their love is the last thing they need. indirectly it could be asking that lovers support each other when times are bad.
T: warning, advice, gloomy, saddness, loss
T: There is nothing greater than the loss of your love.
TPCAST
title: Sonnet 1
paraphrase:This sonnet is referencing the procreation of life. As it starts he is talking to younger men explaining the importance of continuing the heritage of their family.
connotation:Throughout the sonnet references to nature are used. In line 2 he mentions "beauty's rose". Line 3 "riper", line 10 "the world's fresh ornament"--a reference to an apple. But he also mentions glutton and famine to show the need of life.
attitude:The sonnet seems like a plea to other men and women to carry on their spirit through life.
shift:"Though art the world's fresh ornament" He is hitting the volta by telling the youths that they are the glory to the world.
title:"From fairest creatures we desire increase"
theme: The theme over all is the relaying of life from one generation to another.
SOAPSTone for Sonnet 12
Subject:The passing of time
Occasion:To show the reality of life as we know.
Audience:It doesn't necessarily have an audience. It speaks to everyone as a whole.
Purpose:To explain the slow but swift passing of life and how time seems to slip from the minds of people.
Speaker:An older man who has seen most of his life fly by.
Tone: The tone strikes me as a darker tone but also a raise of awareness and care for others.
Theme:The theme overall is that you should live your life to the fullest and not be constrained by the depressing issues of life and time.
SOAPSTone of Sonnet 73
Subject:Age and death
Occasion:A man is at the 'twilight' of his life and is going to die soon as the 'night doth take me away'.
Attitude:The attitude is sad towards the beginning with the mans mention of his life almost being over but the couplet at the end seems to say he has some type of lover who he is glad to have had love him.
Purpose:To show the realization of growing old.
Speaker:An old man
Tone:Dark until the couplet when it is sincere.
Theme:The progress of life and death and the remembrance of a loved one.
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