Hello everyone, welcome back. As you can see,
today we speak about the sonnet, and in particular
Shakespearean sonnet. The sonnet, probably you've
heard about the sonnet before. It's one of the
most famous, most important poetic forms of all
time. Now the sonnet, generally, is a fourteen 14
line poem each line having 10 syllables and the
theme of the sonnet is generally love so what is
the sonnet it's a love poem of 14 lines each line
has 10 syllables the sonnet originated in Italy.
Italy with an I, not Y. It sounds ugly with an I,
with a Y, sorry. It started in Italy in the 13th
century with a very famous poet, you should all
know, named Dante. Dante. But it became more
famous thanks to an Italian poet named Petrac.
Notice how the name is? written Petrarch. Petrarch
is an Italian poet who wrote so many sonnets.
The sonnet started in Italy in the Renaissance
Italian Renaissance in the 13th century. And
again, it shows how more themes started to be
included in poetry. It's no longer about religion
and God and heroism. There are themes of
relationships of women and love, et cetera. Now,
in a way, the sonnet migrated to England through
two famous people. The first one is named Sir
Thomas Wyatt, and the second one is Henry Howard.
We'll know the names later on. They're not that
important for now to us. So we have Henry Howard
and Sir Thomas Wyatt. They brought, they imported,
kind of, the sonnet from Italy to England. What
did they do to the sonnet? They translated it.
They brought and they adapted it. They, in a way,
made it look English. Because there are
differences between Italian and English language.
We have many English poets who wrote the sonnet.
But the most famous of them is Shakespeare.
How many sonnets did he write? One, five, four,
more or less. Some people say, like, a couple of
them are not Shakespearean, written by someone
else. It's not a big deal. Again, to us, because
some people, they spend like years and years
examining which sonnet is Shakespearean and which
one is not Shakespearean.
Again, 14 lines. 14 lines. However, Shakespeare
did two things to change about the sonnet. What
did he change? Before we begin talking about
Shakespeare, let's go back again to the Italian
sonnet to Petrarch. 14 lines. You can't change the
14 lines, because if it is 13 or 15, it's not a
sonnet. It's not considered. So that's why it's
usually important when you want to analyze a poem,
understand the poem, count the lines. Are there
14? It's a sonnet. Not 14? Not a sonnet. Because
if it is a sonnet, we'll say what the sonnet is
and how important the sonnet is. Now, the Italian
sonnet was, again, 14 lines and about love, the
theme. There's something important about this,
which is the rhyme.
scheme. The rhyme scheme or the structure, the
rhyme structure, how the music at the end of the
lines of the song. The Italian sonnet sounds like
this A B B A A B B A sorry C D C D C D We'll
explain this more, we'll show you examples in a
bit. Again we have A B B A, A B B B A and then C D
C D C D. How many? If you count them these are 14
because a sonnet has only 14 lines. Now these are
divided into two groups number one the first eight
lines which look similar in a way A B B A A B B A
these are eight lines in English eight lines are
called an octave you know an octopus because the
octopus has eight octave means eight eight lines
and here we have the remaining lines are assisted
It could be C, D, E, C, D, E or different
variation but this is the most common. C, D, C, D,
C, D. How many lines? Six lines, eight lines,
fourteen. The eight lines are called the octave.
Now what happens in the eight lines and this is
significant. The problem is discussed. He's
elaborated. The poet exposes us to some problem
between him and his beloved, and why he can't have
her, why he should have her, why she's the most
beautiful woman on earth. In the six lines, we
have some kind of resolution, the conclusion. What
happens next? Life is complicated. There's this
problem. And in six lines, we have some sort of a
resolution. something to solve this problem to get
the poet out of the trouble. So this is again
generally the Italian sonnet 14 lines check Love
theme, also check. The rhyme scheme is A B B A A B
B A C D C D C D The first eight lines are called
the octave and then the sixth. Sixth is from six,
okay? Now, what did Shakespeare do to change, to
experiment? Remember we said Shakespeare, in a
way, he's considered the most important classical
playwright and poet of English history. But
Shakespeare also wanted to change in many ways, to
change in the language, to change in the form, to
change in the themes. What did he do to the
sonnet?
okay number one thank you very much he changed the
form or the structure
What is the form, the structure of the poem? It's
how the poem looks. When you look at the poem from
afar, how does it look? It's short. It has these
stanzas, et cetera. So Shakespeare, number one. It
didn't start with Shakespeare, but Shakespeare
made this structure famous. And his famous rhyme
scheme, almost all his 154 sonnets have the same
structure. Rhyme structure. A B A B C D C D E F E
F G G G G. Do you know GG? You know GG? Yeah? I
don't know. Anyway GG Without listen without
reading the poem when we see this happening G G.
It's the same sound two lines Yeah, it tells us
it's a couplet. So what is Shakespeare doing
number one? four lines and then four lines and
then four lines and then a couplet It's easy to
know the couplet What's the couplet again Yes
Two lines of verse about one subject with the same
rhyme scheme. Two lines with the same rhyme
scheme. We'll give you a lot of examples in a bit.
But the four lines here are called quatrains.
So he has three quatrains and a couplet.
Quatrain one, quatrain means four, four. A, B, A,
B, they alternate, and then C, D, C, D, E, F, E,
F, and finally we have G, G. That's number one.
Shakespeare changes, expands the structure. What
is interesting here, look at this. The poet here
generally again has the problem in eight lines and
the resolution in six. Now Shakespeare complicates
the whole life and everything in 12 lines. In 12
lines, he just shows you that life is complex.
This is the end of the world. Life is destructive.
Time kills us all. And then when you are about to
give hope, he twists. In two lines, he gives us
some kind of hope or resolution. No one can do
this like Shakespeare. He's a master of this. No
one can complicate everything. And then in only
two lines, can change everything to the very
opposite gives you a closure a resolution or at
least some kind of hope for for the future like
the example the examples we will be seeing in a
bit now also Shakespeare changed the theme I
wouldn't say change because he kind of expanded he
added more themes so the sunnah for Shakespeare is
also a love poem it's about beauty Not nature
exactly, like in the romantic sense. It's about
loss. It's about the passing of time. So he
included more themes, more subjects. Many people
still say, no, he didn't, because beauty, loss,
and the passing of time are still themes that can
go under the theme of love, in a way.
If you notice, before I give you the examples
here, when I say the sonnet has to have a certain
number of lines and a certain rhyme scheme, it
tells us that the sonnet is strict. If you write
13 lines, see I wrote this sonnet, I say sorry
this is not a sonnet. 15 lines, sorry this is not
a sonnet. So the form of the sunnah is very
strict, very fixed, very rigid. It doesn't change
for team lines. For Shakespeare, it's almost
always A, B, A, B, C, D, C, D, E, F, E, F, G, G.
Now what's going on? According to critics, they
say Shakespearean, like many people, many critics,
many poets, they have realized that life is chaos,
chaotic. Life doesn't follow a system, right? It's
random sometimes. It's so sad that good people
die, that beauty declines, that no good thing
remains forever, right? So in a way life is
haphazard, chaotic. There's no system. It's full
of disorder. So critics believe that Shakespeare
was trying to control life. by squeezing it into
this tiny rigid form love poem of the sonnet where
usually at the end there is hope that he will live
forever, that she will live forever, his beloved
or his addressee and that his poetry will live
forever. So no matter what happens, no matter how
harsh life is, The form of the sonnet is going to
control it. The rigid form of the sonnet, the
number of the lines, the number of the syllables
and the fixed rhyme scheme is going to control
life and give it a form and give it a shape where
only Shakespeare can control this. In a sense,
Shakespeare is telling us he is the master of his
own world. He is creating his own world. And
there's a question here. Like, do great people
like Shakespeare realize they're doing great
things? Yeah. Did he realize, did he know he was
writing great things, that he will be famous all
around the world? Did he? At the time he wrote it,
he doesn't think that, because he just feels like
this is what he is. Exactly. Later on, yeah? Yes.
He shows what his works affects people. Is there
evidence in his poetry where he says something
about his poetry outliving all the harsh realities
of life? There is a lot of evidence. Remember last
time probably I posted a sonnet on the Facebook
group where he ends with, so long as men can
breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, this,
my poetry. My sonnet, my verse. And this gives
life to thee. So yes, beauty declines, fairness
declines. Life ends. Death dominates. But as long
as you are in my poem, in my sonnet, you will live
forever and ever, and people will remember you,
and you will grow. Because simply? His poems are
alive. His poetry. His sonnet will outlive all
these difficulties. So long as men can breathe, or
eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives
life to thee. And this is actually the couplet to
probably Shakespeare's most famous sonnet, Sonnet
18, you will see in a bit. So in brief, it's
originally an Italian, European thing that was
brought to England, adapted, and things happened
to it. Shakespeare made it in a way what it looks
like now. But again, not all sonnets are written
like this or like this. But this is called the
Shakespearean sonnet, the English sonnet. And this
is called the Italian sonnet. There are so many
forms, but these are the most famous forms of the
sonnet. Before... Yeah, go on. Is there a reason
behind choosing the number 14? I don't know. I'm
not sure, but is 14 the magic number? Because it's
seven and seven and seven. Many people love the
number seven. It's my favorite number. Why 14? I
think it's haphazard. It's not a big deal. But why
14? Yeah, I don't know. if there is a reason
probably we can look it up online somewhere before
I go on give you examples look at these middle
English words these are very important to know
remember we have thou meaning you for subject thee
you for object in the past they would add th
instead of s for he she it so had It has doth,
comes, and they would usually add st for thou. It
is, we will see that. Thy and thine both mean
your. Your, but the difference is like the
difference between a and an. You say a book, an
apple. When we have a vowel sound, you add the one
with the N. Same here. Say, frailty, Hamlet says,
frailty thy name is woman. Thy name. But when we
have a vowel here, I vowel I thine eyes thine eyes
your your eyes thou art you are it is it is why
remember it's because of the number of syllables
and the music thyself easy yourself ear means
before what's the difference between ear and
before
Yeah, look at the words.
Okay, so what does it mean? How many syllables are
there in before? Two syllables. Syllable one,
syllable two, before. But here, one syllable. So
this is what we call sometimes poetic license you
know driving license you have a license to drive
now poets have a license poetic license if you
want to change something just to make things fit
near same here with never never two syllables but
near one ear ever last time we had overthrown
overthrown originally over overthrown Please don't
forget that, thou, thee, hath, doth, just these
major words. Thou means you, thee means also you
for objects, doth and hath, does and has. Doesn't
the change in language complicate poetry? It
doesn't, of course. If before they had the word
er, and nowadays we change it to before, it would
change the Yeah, that's why it's good to know
these words and study the sonnets, the poems in
the language they were written in to really
appreciate the beauty. When you modernize this,
you're going to change a lot about the music and
everything. So I'll probably post this on Facebook
so you can get the slides to summarize the main
ideas here. But don't forget again, the sonnet is
a very important form where the form, remember the
form, the shape, the number of lines and the rhyme
scheme helps the idea, the meaning. Where again,
the poet is struggling to control life, to give
meaning to life, to make sense out of the chaotic
nature of life. For Shakespeare, in a way he was
trying to outsmart and outlive. life itself. In
the sonnet, finally, the form, what is the form?
The 14 lines, the number of these syllables here,
the number of the stanzas here, and the rhyme
scheme. What is the content? The theme. Is it
about love? About loss? About passing of time? Et
cetera. Let's see more applications.
This is Sonnet 17. We'll do it very quickly, but
we'll talk more about Sonnet 18. How many lines?
40. Look at the shape. The last two lines are
sometimes indenting, like they're pushed this way.
But look at the rhyme here. We have time and
rhyme. That's GDR. Shakespeare. Someone read?
Okay, speak up yeah Okay,
probably next time you sit here yeah go on who
will believe my verse in time to come if if it
were filled with your most high desert Desert
though yeah heaven knows it knows it it is but a
thumb a tongue tomb which hides your life and
shows not half your parts. If I could write the
beauty of your eyes and in fresh numbers number
all your graces, the age to come would say this
poet lies. Such heavenly touches near touch
earthly faces. Should my papers, yellowed with
their age, be scorned like old men of less truth
than tongue? And your true rights be termed a
poet's rage and stretched meter for antique song.
Antique song. Antique song. But for some child of
yours alive that time, you should live twice in it
and in my rhyme. Okay, one more please. Who will
believe my verse in time to come, if it were
filled with your most high desires. I'll just,
while you're reading, I'll try to do the rhyme
scheme. Remember, the rhyme scheme follows the A,
B, C, D, the first sound is A. Why A? The first
letter of the alphabet. If the second repeats the
same sound, we give it A. If it's a new sound, B.
So, come, desert, Look at, listen, tomb, the B is
silent, so it's not there, the sound, we care
about the sound. But it's not, it's not, it's not,
oh, sorry. It's not as perfectly pronounced, like
perfectly pronounced as come. This is come, and
this is tomb, tomb, grave. This is still A, but
it's called imperfect rhyme. it rhymes but
imperfectly like love and prove okay and then
parts goes with deserts a
b a b go on if i got the Write the beauty of your
eyes and in fresh numbers number all your guesses
that is to come what you would say this God lies.
So we have eyes? C. Graces? D. Lies? C. And then
D. Go on.
Okay,
with their age.
And tongue. Different? E, F, Rage, E, and Song.
And finally read the couplet.
Okay, but where some child of yours alive that
time, that's G, you should live twice in it and in
my rhyme. My rhyme, my poetry. My verse and again
the G. A, B, A, B. That's come and come, desserts
and pots, and then eyes and lies, C, C, and graces
and faces, D, D, age, rage, E, tongue, and song,
F, time, rhyme. If I ask you a question in the
exam, I bring you one of the sonnets, and it
rhymes like this. And if you know this is a
Shakespearean sonnet, Shakespearean couplet, if
you know it by heart, you give it GG Rimsky. But
if you don't and you give me AA, it's okay because
it's still a sonnet. The next sonnet, a very
famous sonnet by Shakespeare. Sonnet 18. Sonnet
18. Sonnet 18. I'll read it first and see two or
three of you reading it.
Again, 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 has 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 position of that fear 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. Yes?
Can you speak up? Speak up.
Thou art.
Rough winds.
Darling buds of May.
By thy eternal summer.
Eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose position
of that firm thou art, nor shall deep death pray
thou one last in his shed, when in eternal lines
thy blood so long as men can breathe or eyes can
see, so long life lives this, Very good. A better
reading please. Yes. Shall I compare thee to a
summer's days though are more lovely and more
temporary? Shall I? Say again. Shall I compare?
Shall I compare thee to a summer's days? No, not
days. Day. Day. Go on. Say again. Shall I compare
thee to a summer's day though are more lovely and
more temporary? Rob went to shade the darling buds
of May, and Summer's leaves have all too short a
date, sometimes too hot the eye of Haven shines,
and often is his dull complexion dimmed.
And every fair confessed sometimes declines by
chance or nature's changing course untrammed.
Untrammed. Untrammed, yes. Like damned, untrammed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose
possession of that fair thou ow'st. Gnosis did
brag thou wondrous in his shade, when in eternal
lines to time thou rose, so long as men can
breathe or eyes can see, so long life lives this,
and this gives life to thee. Better. Can you?
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art
more lovely and more tempting. Rough. Rough. Rough
winds do shake the downland, particularly the
main, and summer days have all too short a day,
sometimes to have the eye of heaven shines, and
often it's years goes from day to day. And every
pear from pear sometimes declines by chance or
nature's changing course and trend. But the
eternal summer shall not fade, nor loss position
of that pear that asked.
This gives life to people. Can someone do the
rhyme scheme here? Come here.
And explain while you're doing the rhyme scheme,
the structure.
You don't have to read it. First line is always A.
Temperate and day are not the same, so we can say
B. May, of May, day, so we add A. Short and date.
Date and temperate is also A, is also B. Shines
has nothing to rhyme, so we add B.
And that's the same, so we can add D. Declines and
shines rhymes, so we can add C. Untrimmed and
dimed is the same rhyme, so we can add D. Fade is
a new rhyme, so we can say E.
like oh because but remember he has has not a due
but with you in the past they used to add st to
the verb thank god they dropped this long time ago
what would be what would be a nightmare for us so
host is if shade and fade rhymes we can add e
roast
And then we come to our friend GG. This is a
better explanation than mine. Thank you. Very good
job. Now what is Shakespeare doing here? What is
he saying? This is a sonnet, a love poem, but in
this sonnet, he's again there's some kind of
complaint there's a problem here he's by the way
critics do not agree whether these poems were
written to a man or a woman it could be an issue
but not a big deal for us let's study the text
itself shall I compare these two summers in
England summer is the best season because it's not
very cold because winter is really horribly cold
So he says, shall I compare thee to summer's day?
This is a rhetorical question. And then he says, I
think I shouldn't because of many things. Because
you're more beautiful than summer. You're more
temperate. Summer is short. Summer doesn't last.
Sometimes there is rough wind.
that shakes the darling buds of May. So summer is
not as beautiful as you are. You're more beautiful
than that. And sometimes too hot the eye of heaven
shines. And often is his gold complexion dimmed.
The clouds sometimes cover everything and it's no
longer beautiful. And this is probably one of the
finest lines of Shakespeare. And every fair from
fair sometime declines. Fair meaning beauty. Like
a fair person, a fair woman is like the most
beautiful there is. So these Things, these
features do not last, the beauty, the beauties of
the summer compared to you. Generally, every fear
from fear sometimes declines. Beauty doesn't last
forever. We are all going to grow old and ugly,
and then we're going to die. Beauty will fade.
Beauty will fade. Furnace will... Notice the
repetition of the fa, fa, fa, fa, fa sound. It's
like you're like... complaining, sad, angry, by
chance, et cetera, et cetera. And then he says,
but thy eternal summer, thy affairs shall not
fade. You're more beautiful than summer itself.
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ost, nor
shall death brag thou wanderst in his ship. And
this is, again, beautiful because Shakespeare is
personifying death. Death is not a person. Death
doesn't brag, doesn't show off. People brag.
People show off. And this is personification. You
said personification is when you give things, the
features, the characteristics, the traits of human
beings. It's personification. Death, even death
will not brag about killing you because you're
going to outlive everything. When in eternal
lines, eternal lines, these lines that will live
forever. This in part answers the question whether
Shakespeare knew he was writing really, really
good poetry, amazing poetry that will be famous
all over the world. Maybe he knew he's going to be
famous all across London and the UK, maybe in
Europe. But did he know he's going to be here,
studied in Gaza? No. Or in China, or in Africa? We
don't know. Nobody knows. But certainly, those
great minds, the giants, the canonical writers,
they know. At least they know they're doing
something great. And then finally, the couplet
here gives us hope. What he does here is that, oh,
we are all going to die. But then comes the hope,
comes the closure. So long as men can breathe or
eyes can see, so long lives this. This, my sonnet,
my poetry, my verse, my rhyme. And this gives life
to thee. And it's true. It's ironic we don't know
who he wrote the poem for. But we know that
whoever that person is, is still alive. People are
talking about him or her. let's end with something
from I downloaded this video from YouTube this is
a recitation of shall I compare thee to summer
days now
I want you to listen to this and then there's a
little girl who's going to also recite this I want
you to see which one you like most
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 wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. So
long as men can breathe, for eyes can see, So long
lives this, and this gives life to thee. Let's see
the little kid and then stop there. Is it this
one?
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. The winds
do shake the darling buds of May, and summer's
leaves have all too short a date. Sometimes too
hot the eye of Heather shines, and often it is
cold complexion dims. And every fair thing there
sometimes declines By chance or nature's changing
course of trend. But thy eternal summer shall not
fade, Nor this possession that there thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines the times thou grow'st.
Oh cute.
Isn't she cute? It's beautiful how she renders
Shakespeare to this little tiny recitation of the
sonnet. We'll stop here and we'll see what if you
have any question about Shakespeare about the
sonnet