Sonnet Text Work
By Larry Gleason
Sonnet XXIX -- 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
You may need several copies of the
sonnet as you work so that your text
markings remain readable.
Let’s start with Sonnet 29:
When in disgrace with fortune and
men's eyes,
Where to begin?
Ask Questions.
You may need several copies of the
sonnet as you work so that text
makings remain readable.
Quatrains and Couplet
• Mark Quatrains. (3 Quatrains, 4 lines each)
• Mark the Couplet. (Last 2 lines)
Are they in perfect form or against
form? Note where they are against
form.
Quatrains for Sonnet 29
Q1
Q2
Q3
Couplet
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Sentences
• Mark the sentences. They end where
there are periods.
• Sentence=Idea. How many main
ideas? Enumerate them.
• Notice how ideas are constructed
with semi-colons; colons: and
commas,.
• Are there Enjambments? Mark them.
Sentences for Sonnet 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
One
sentence
Enjambments for Sonnet 29
Q1
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Q2
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Q3
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
Couplet
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Scanning
• How does it scan?
• Force it into ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ
(short, long, short, long, etc,)
• Is the scan regular (easy to force)? To
help it stay regular, can any words elide?
• Where is it irregular (can’t be forced),
creating feminine endings, long lines,
trochees, etc.)? Mark them.
Scanning for Sonnet 29
Elision
Trochee
Trochee
Feminine ending
Trochee
Feminine ending
No Elision
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,*
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
*a troublesome line that may defy consensus
A Troubling Scan:
•
A bastard scan.
•
Choosing to force the scan so that deaf is long stressed?
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries.
•
The easiest rhythm:
-double long stress trouble
-elide heaven to heav’n
-double short stress with my:
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries.
Rhyme Scheme
Q1
ABAB
• What is the rhyme scheme?
Q2
CDCD
• Are there visual rhymes as
well as aural rhymes?
Q3
EFEF
Couplet
GG
Rhyme Scheme for Sonnet 29
Q1
ABAB
Q2
CDCD
Q3
EFEF
Couplet
GG
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Repeated Words
• What words are repeated?
• Why they have been repeated?
• Make sure you include variants and root
forms.
• When you finish you are likely to have
found your----
Theme(s)
THEME
• Subject
• Meditation
• Topic
• Idea
• Motif
• Subject Matter
• Argument
• Premise
• Thesis
• Sonnet Tie
Finding our Theme
Important Repeated Words for Sonnet 29
Q1
Q2
Q3
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
Couplet
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
These repeat too, but so what?
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Antithesis
(Compare/Contrasts)
• What words, phrases or images are
put into compare/contrasts or
Antithesis?
• Mark them, connect with lines.
Antithesis (Compare/Contrast) in Sonnet 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Compare/
Contrast:
Antithesis:
Antithesis:
(Brighting
day/gloomy
night)
Q1
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Q2
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy / contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
Q3
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Couplet
Definitions
• Do you know all the words?
• If not look them up and get a
definition.
Words to look up for Sonnet 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Beginnings, Middles and Ends
• Can this sonnet be broken up into
beginnings, middles and ends?
– What is the proposed issue?
– What is the debate?
– What is the conclusion?
• Think bookends.
Beginnings Middles Ends for Sonnet 29
B
Proposal or
set up
M
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
debate
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
E
conclusion
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Relationships
• Who is the Speaker?
• Who is the Speaker speaking to?
• What is the Relationship?
• What’s right in the Relationship?
• What’s wrong in the Relationship?
• What does the Speaker hope to
accomplish? What does the Speaker
need to change?
I to my love, who seems not to be here. I need to move
myself to a different psychological plain (social plain to natural
or elemental plain.)
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Time
•What is the time frame?
Time: A time of disgrace in the past, present and
unforeseeable future, until I dream myself into a
different past to create a different present and perhaps
a different future.
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Parentheticals
• Are there ideas that contain
parenthetical thoughts (momentary
digressions or explanations) other
than what Shakespeare spells out
(with actual parentheses) for you?
Mark them.
– Once marked, can you drop them out
and still make sense of the idea at
hand?
Parenthetical ideas provided by Shakespeare
and by my own marking.
When (in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes),
I (all alone) beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven (with my bootless cries),
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
(Featured like him, like him with friends possessed),
(Desiring this man's art and that man's scope) ,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts (myself almost despising),
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Major Tonal Shift
• Where is the major tonal shift in the
sonnet?
• Mark it.
Major Tonal Shift for Sonnet 29
Q1
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Q2
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Q3
Major
Tonal Shift
Couplet
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Imagery
• What kind of images are conjured?
Quoting the original text, pick out each
image, then describe that same image in
your own words.
• Are there lists of images? Are they
cumulative—pieces that build to a bigger,
more substantive whole? Are they in
opposition to each other creating an
internal debate?
Images for Sonnet 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth
brings
That then I scorn to change my state with
kings.
Senses within –eyes,
ears, mouth: Q1,
Senses looking out:
Q2
State- outcast state
AND state of
acceptance
Heaven and earth:
freedom/bird/flight,
dawn of new day
music, love, wealth
Punning
• Sonnets are witty word games.
Treat it like an acrostic or crossword
puzzle, etc.
• What word games are there
(punning)? Mark them.
Punning in Sonnet 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Literary Devices
• Are there lists such as Verb Lists? Noun
Lists? Other word lists? Mark them.
• Are there internal vowel sounds in close
proximity to each other repeated
(Assonance)?
• Are there consonant sounds in close
proximity to each other repeated
(Alliteration)?
• Are there words that are, through
imitation of their sound, rhetorically
effective? (Onomatopoeia)?
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth
brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Literary Devices in
Sonnet 29
Verb List 1
Verb List 2
Assonance-nothing
remarkable here
Alliteration 1 (l, k)
Alliteration 2
(s,h)
Onomatopoeianothing remarkable
here
Syntax
• Is there Old English, Elizabethan or
difficult syntax? Mark it.
Difficult Syntax in Sonnet 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Old English:
Beweep
Bootless
Haply
Rememb’red
Thy
Thee
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Caesura: sĭ-zhoo’-rah
Where can we use caesuras to help us phrase things better?
Mark your caesuras.
A caesura is:
•
A pause in a line of verse dictated by sense or natural
speech rhythm rather than by punctuation alone.
•
In Latin and Greek prosody, a break in a line caused by
the ending of a word within a foot, especially when this
coincides with a sense division.
•
Music A pause or breathing at a point of rhythmic division
in a melody.
Caesuras in Sonnet 29
When //in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself //and curse my fate,
// marks
suggested
caesuras,
Wishing me like to one //more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art //and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy //contented least;
entered only
where
punctuation
does not already
exist
Yet in these thoughts //myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark //at break of day arising
From sullen earth) //sings hymns at heaven's gate;
Q3
For thy sweet love rememb’red //such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state //with kings.
The Moment Before/
The Moment After
• Once the sonnet has been thoroughly
examined, what is the moment
before (30 seconds or less prior to
the first spoken word)?
• What happens after the sonnet is
through (immediately after the last
word)?
Making Sonnet 29 actable
• Create an event that spurs the first
line: i. e., the prison doors just
slammed.
• Create an event that lingers after:
i.e., I curl up in a fetal position and
sleep.
Your Sonnet
• All of these questions and examinations
are found in one list: Sonnet Text Work.
• Before memorizing, go through the
questions and work out your answers.
• Then prepare your sonnet so that you are
speaking to someone. Create a scenario
where your sonnet might exist including
the moment before and the moment after.
Sonnet Text Work
By Larry Gleason
(This is my moment after.
Consider yourself
released.)