For Wednesday (Last Day of the Sonnets): "My Name is Will," Sonnets Day 6

For Wednesday: “My Name is Will” (The ‘Dark Lady’ Sonnets): Nos. 127, 129, 130, 135, 136, 138 (and 138a), 144

Answer TWO of the following…

1. In general, what is the poet’s relationship with the “dark lady,” his mistress?  Does he talk about love differently with a woman than with a man?  Is this love sexual—or also idealistic/platonic?  How does she inspire him?  How might these poems be different in subject or tone than the previous ones? 

2. Discuss the differences between Sonnets 138 and 138a: what makes them slightly different poems?  What words/images/tones change?  Which poem do you prefer and why?

3. Sonnet 130, like 18 and 116, lays claim to being one of the most famous poems in the world, to say nothing of The Sonnets.  How might, in some ways, this poem be a response to Sonnet 18 and a way of speaking of love more honestly and less idealistically?  Do you find it a more or less flattering love poem than 18 (or similar poems)? 

4. Sonnet 144 (and a few others) suggest the presence of the young man in the background.  If so, what has happened to the love triangle encountered earlier in the sequence?  How does the poet balance his feelings for each lover, and is this poem at all misogynistic (as some critics have claimed)?

For Monday: The Sonnets, Part 5, "By Evil Still Made Better"

For Monday: The Sonnets: “By Evil Still Made Better”

Sonnets 112, 113, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 126

Answer TWO of the following…

1. These are the last sonnets written directly to the ‘young man’; what kind of ‘epilogue’ do these poems offer?  How is he bidding farewell—and on what terms?  Has the idol fallen for the poet?  Are there new betrayals?  Or simply a sense of resignation and/or regret? 

2. Sonnet 126 is the only sonnet in the series without a couplet.  It literally ends with brackets.  Why do you think this is?  What might the meaning—whether visual or metaphorical—be by this anomaly?  Or could it be an act of censorship on Shakespeare’s part—or the printer’s? 

3. Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous sonnets in the series: though considered a great love poem, is love/romance the prime sentiment?  Are there other ways to read this poem?  Explain what other moods/tones you might discern through individual lines.

4. How do any of these poems fit in the ‘story’ you wrote for your last response?  Do they complement or contradict it?  How might you weave them into the fabric of your Sonnet narrative? 

For Friday: Intermission--Staging the Sonnets

So far, we’ve read the better part of 110 Sonnets—that’s a lot of Shakespeare!  So before we finish Sonnets 111-154, I want you to reflect on what we’ve read and how Shakespeare intended us to read/interpret it.  What are The Sonnets anyway?  Clearly, they’re not a collection of random poems because they respond to one another, develop similar themes, and seem to advance an invisible storyline that lies just beyond our view.  However, if they do have a plot, where is it—who does it involve—and what is at stake for the ‘players’? 

For your response, I want you to write a brief sketch of potential ‘story’ for The Sonnets.  Pretend this is an outline for a potential play or film: who are the main characters, how does their relationship develop, what obstacles do they encounter, and when (and how) does the breakup occur?  Cite several Sonnets as reference points to your story (you can either quote a line or two or simply reference them) and think about how individual Sonnets connect and advance the story.  Above all, try to conceptualize The Sonnets as a drama that could be acted out and has all the elements of a good tragedy—or comedy(?).

NOTE: You don’t have to take into account every single Sonnet: your story can conveniently avoid those that don’t fit neatly into your scheme, or you can just focus on a small section, say Sonnets 1-19.   However, try to cast your net as widely as possible and consider what Shakespeare might have wanted us to see/experience with The Sonnets.  Remember, this is still just an informal response, so just a page or two will do.  

For Wednesday: "A Motley to the View" (Sonnets part 4)

For Wednesday: “A Motley to the View”

Sonnets 86, 87, 91, 94, 96, 100, 103, 106, 107, 110

Answer TWO of the following...

1. As we get to the 100’s in the sonnet sequence, we see certain themes repeated, some with almost frantic urgency, while others appear only fleetingly here and there.  Choose one of the sonnets from this group and compare it to an earlier one with which it shares a consistent theme or idea.  What makes this poem different?  Is it an improvement over the previous one?  An expansion?  A clarification?  A contradiction?

2. In many of these sonnets, the poet seems to take on a fatherly tone, hectoring the young man about his behavior in society and/or toward the poet himself.  Where do we see this in a specific sonnet?  In this sonnet, what is he trying to ‘teach’ the young man, and what might this say about the lover’s fault or transgression? 

3. Choose one of the sonnets in this group and imagine that it is a soliloquy in one of Shakespeare’s plays.  Forgetting about the characters in the Sonnets, who might speak these lines?  What might the dramatic situation be?  Is this a noble Henry—a drunken Falstaff—a plotting Iago—a raging Othello?   Or someone else entirely?  Use specific lines to support this characterization. 

4. Examine a poem where Shakespeare uses poetic devices to telling effect, such as antanaclasis (homonymic pun), polyptonon (repetition of words from the same root), paradoxes (cold fire, timid rage, etc.), or simply strange syntax (sentence structure—“and worse essays prov’d thee my best of love,” etc.).  How does he employ these devices to affect the very meaning of the poem?  If he had written these more straightforwardly (which he certainly could have done), what would we have lost?  How is the meaning in the technique itself? 

Shakespeare's "The Hollow Crown": Watch Now!

Last night, PBS played the first installment of their new Shakespeare Histories series, starting with Richard II.  If you missed it, you can watch the entire show on their website (it's about 2.5 hours long).  Though we're not reading any of this plays in this class, you might be interested in watching Richard II, which shares many of the same themes as The Sonnets, as do the subsequent history plays.  Click on the link below to watch--but don't forget to read The Sonnets (assignment below).

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365083796/

For Monday: The Sonnets, Part 3, "My Love Was My Decay" & Sonnet Recitation Assignment

For Monday: The Sonnets, Part 3: “My Love Was My Decay”:
61, 62, 65, 68, 71, 72, 73, 76, 78, 80

For Monday’s class, I only have one ‘question’ for you to answer: I want you to choose one of the poems above and analyze it in a close reading response.  This means that you will examine the poem line by line, exploring how the poem uses metaphors, images, puns, suggestions, and even sounds to make its points.  Read carefully and be sure to analyze throughout—explain why you see what you do, and help us ‘see’ where you found the clues to decipher (or at least make sense of) the poem.  The key here is to quote words or lines and then discuss them, rather than simply summarizing what the entire poem ‘means.’  Writing a close reading is an act of discovery: you’ll learn a lot more as you do it than you could ever know before you started.  As you analyze the poem, look for some of the common themes of the Sonnets: increasing, immortality, acting, reflecting, social barriers, etc. 

* * * The Sonnet Recitation Assignment!  Due by Friday, October 11^th  * * *

At some point in the next 3 weeks, I want you to choose one of Shakespeare’s Sonnets to memorize and recite to me in my office.  You may choose any Sonnet, even one we didn’t read or discuss in class.  Once you’re ready, you can either schedule a time to recite it or just come to my office hours: MWF 9-10, 1-3, or TR 1-3.  I will follow along in the book, and as long as you have 95% accuracy, you’ll get full points for the memorization.

ALSO—I want you to turn in a typed 1-2 page close reading of the poem, examining how you read the poem and why you see it this way.  And yes, you can do the same poem from your close reading assignment (above). 

This assignment is worth 10% of your grade and must be concluded before or by Friday, October 11^th.  Please do not dread this assignment or worry about embarrassing yourself.  I just want to see you enjoy the beauty of Shakespeare’s verse and have something in your memory that can potentially last a lifetime. 

For Friday: "The Master Mistress of My Passion" (The Sonnets, Part 2)

For Friday:
The Sonnets, Nos. 20, 22, 23, 29, 30, 33, 36, 40, 41, 42, 46, 55

NOTE: I’m skipping around a bit since there is literally so much going on in these Sonnets.  Feel free to read the entire range of 20-60, but these are the ones I want to focus on in class, since they hit many of the high points  As before, read them all but focus on a few to re-read and closely examine.

Answer TWO of the following...

1. Where in these new sonnets do we get a sense of who the ‘players’ are? (we can’t assume it’s Shakespeare and Henry Wroithsley—or even another candidate, William Herbert).  What might be their social classes?  Ages?  Feelings toward one another?  Complications?  Attachments with other characters not directly seen?  Quote a line or two to support your readings. 

2. In this group we see an increasing—though subtle—use of theatrical metaphors.  How does Shakespeare employ metaphors and ideas from the stage to illustrate some aspect of love, relationships, or growing old?  Do any of these remind you of other ideas/works of Shakespeare? 

3. Around Sonnet 33 something has changed in the relationship between the poet and the ‘young man’: are there any clues to reveal what happened?  Did someone betray the other?  Was something discovered?  Was something said?  Consider specifically the metaphors Shakespeare uses in Sonnet 33—the rising sun, the mountains, the “ugly rack” and the “region cloud” (though you don’t have to focus solely on this poem). 

4. Sonnets 40-42 reveal a new character in the Sonnet sequence: who is this person, and what is his/her relationship to the lovers?  How does the poet use this new character to explore the drama of a Spring/Autumn relationship and the perils of falling in love and risking heartbreak? 

For Wednesday: "Thine Image Dies With Thee" (Reading the Sonnets)

For Wednesday:
Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Nos. 2-19

NOTE: Don’t read the poems like our previous works; they are not a narrative per se, though there is a rough story connecting them together (which critics violently disagree on).  Try to read the poems one at a time, and try to re-read them a few times.  You don’t have to read every poem in this sequence, but I would try to read them all and then go back and read a few carefully.  The Sonnets yield their treasures slowly and not in one sitting.  Don’t be discouraged if you don’t “get it” after a first or second read. 

 Answer TWO of the following...

 1. Which poem in this sequence do you feel is the most persuasive in urging the young man to “breed”?  How does the poet make his argument, and what images/metaphors make it seem compelling to you? 

 2. All of these poems, to some extent, are about the conflict between Time/Death and Immortality/Beauty.  Why might this be a subject of particular interest in the Renaissance?  Which poem or poems do you feel illustrates the conflict particularly well—and why? 

 3. A few of the poems are explicitly about writing poems and the role of poetry in the art of love.  How does Shakespeare use poetry itself as a way to make his argument and/or urge the young man to ‘procreate’?  ‘’

 4. Where in one or more of these sonnets do we get the sense that the poet’s interest in the young man is more than platonic?  Where might love play a role in the argument—and why?  Be specific and cite a line or two that might support your reading. 

For Friday: 100 Years of Gawain Criticism

For Friday:

Adding to Anonymous—the Criticism of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Choose one of the following essays in the back of our edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to read and respond to for Friday.  Of course, you can read more than one essay—or indeed, all of them!—but only answer the questions below in regard to a single essay.  Try to choose a general topic or essay that interests you, since you will be using this later on Paper #1 (if you choose to do it). 

ESSAYS (Read ONE, your choice):

·         Burrow, “Recognition and Confession at the Green Chapel” (pp.104-113)

·         Davenport, “The Hero and His Adventure” (pp.131-143)

·         Hanna III, “Unlocking What’s Locked: Gawain’s Green Girdle” (pp.144-158)

·         Johnson, “Regenerative Time in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (pp.158-173)

·         Nicholls, “The Testing of Courtesy at Camelot and Hautdesert” (pp.173-194)

·         Heng, “Feminine Knots and the Other Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (pp.194-213)

QUESTIONS (answer 2 of the following...)

1. What common assumptions about the poem does this author acknowledge and then either try to expand, complicate, or refute?  What did he/she think other readers (or critics) had missed before them?

2. In general, how did this essay help you understand a specific aspect of Sir Gawain that you either didn’t understand or didn’t see before?  Cite a specific passage that you feel does this particularly well.

3. Is there a passage or idea in this essay you either don’t agree with or simply don’t understand?  Why is this?  Explain how you either don’t get or don’t agree with this passage.  Be specific—don’t say “I didn’t get the entire essay, etc.” 

4. Should you have read this essay before reading the poem itself?  Why or why not?  Again, be specific: why might this function as the perfect Introduction to the poem...or why might it ruin the experience of simply reading it with your own eyes?  

For Monday: Part IV of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

For Friday's class, try to finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; there are no questions, but I will offer you a intriguing in-class writing question for Monday.  Also, be sure you have the correct edition of the text, since we will be reading essays from the back next week; if not, I will be able to make a few photocopies for suitably penitent pupils.  :)

For those of you interested in the culture of 14th century England/Europe, as well as chivalric romances, here is a You Tube clip of a chanson (romance set to music, usually about chivalric love) by Guilluame Machaut, a famous French composer of the time and a contemporary of the Gawain poet.  This is the music troubadours would have sung in court and inspired knights to seek the attentions of a beautiful maiden to perform heroic deeds for...or, in a less exalted mood, simply shag in the closet.  Either way, it gives you a sense of what this world sounded like at the time; it makes good background music while reading Part IV!

For Friday: Part III of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

 Reading/Discussion Question for

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part III

 DEFINITION OF ALLEGORY:

“An allegory is a narrative fiction in which the agents and actions, and sometimes the setting as well, are contrived to make coherent sense on the “literal” or primary, level of signification, and at the same time to signify a second, correlated order of agents, concepts, and events.  We can distinguish two main types: (1) historical and political allegory…and (2) the allegory of ideas, in which the literal characters represent abstract concepts and the plot exemplifies a doctrine or thesis…The central device in the second type, the sustained allegory of ideas, is the personification of abstract entities such as virtues, vices, states of mind, modes of life, and types of character” (from M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms). 

YOUR RESPONSE:

After reading Parts III, examine a section of the text (a short passage, no more than a page or two) that you feel can be read allegorically.  Consider how the poet writes a poetic narrative that functions on two levels, and what clues suggest his multiple meanings.  What ideas or concepts are personified, and what “doctrine or thesis” might your reading lead to?  Write a developed response of at least a full page (double spaced), though you can go to town if you wish. 

NOTE: If you’re stumped, consider nature/weather imagery, the various hunt episodes, and the “challenge” that Gawain faces in the Lord’s castle.