Antar Abdellah


The purpose of this unit is to introduce the
reader to Poetry, specifically to one of the oldest
and most popular forms of poetry, the Sonnet.
The well-constructed poem affects the reader
before even knowing the real meaning of the
words.
Poetry has a power of consoling as well as
amusing the reader. Summarizing or
paraphrasing a poem spoils the vivid meanings it
contains.


The Sonnet is a poem, normally of fourteen
lines, in any of several fixed verse and rhyme
schemes that expresses characteristically a
single theme or idea.
It normally talks about love, beauty of nature,
horrors of war, political struggle, and religious
devotion.
The Sonnet originated in Italy in the 13th century by a
small group of poets writing for powerful people at
the court of Sicily. The highly intellectual and skillful
displayed language is called eloquence.
 The sonnet has a very distinctive Rhyming Scheme. It
is normally divided into two parts: the first part is of
eight lines and called Octave, and the second part is
of six lines and called Sestet.
 Sometimes, the poem can be divided into two sets of
four lines each called Quatrains and two sets of three
lines each called Tersest.

Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 158 sonnets. In
sonnet 18, as well as, in all his sonnets, Shakespeare
imagines one whom he talks to. The sonnets of
Shakespeare deal with different topics of life such as:
love, hatred, life, death, beauty, and nature.
 Sonnet 18 is one of the most famous of all the
sonnets, the theme is of the descriptive power of
verse, the ability of the poet to depict the fair youth
adequately; and the immortality conveyed through
being hymned in these “eternal lines”.
 It is noticeable that here the poet is full of confidence
that his verse will live as long as there are people
drawing breath upon the earth.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day: This is taken usually to
mean, “What if I were to compare you to a summer’s day?” The
figurative comparisons of the loved one to all the beauteous
things in nature hover in the background throughout the sonnet.
 Thou art more lovely and more temperate: The youth’s beauty is
gentler, than the beauty of a summer day, more perfect, more
temperate, and more restrained. Whereas the summer’s day
might have violent excesses in store, such as are about to be
described.
 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May: May was a
summer month in Shakespeare’s time, and it is known to be a very
windy month. May’s winds would roughly shake the tinny,
beautiful, and much loved buds of the early summer favorite
flowers.

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
That’s a legal terminology. The summer holds a
lease on part of the year, but the lease is too
short, and has an early termination (date).
 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines:
On occasions, the eye of heaven (the sun) can be
very hot in summer.
 And often is his gold complexion dimmed: The
lover’s gold complexion is equal to the sun’s
golden face. They would both be dimmed by
clouds and on overcast days generally.




And every fair from fair sometime declines: All
beautiful things (every fair) occasionally become
inferior in comparison with their essential
previous state of beauty (from fair). They all
decline from perfection.
By chance, or nature’s changing course
untrimmed: By chance (by accident), or by the
fluctuating tides of nature, which are not subject
to control, nature’s wild changing course.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade: It
refers to the eternity promised by the ever-living
poet in the next few lines, through his verse.
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st: Your eternal
summer shall not lose its hold on that beauty which you so
richly possess.
 Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade: In
classical literature, the shades flitted helplessly in the
underworld like gibbering ghosts. They always referred to
death and eternal loss.
 When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: In the
undying lines of my verse. You keep pace with time, and
you grow as time grows.
 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see: So long
lives this, and this gives life to thee: For as long as
humans live and breathe upon the earth, for as long as
there are seeing eyes on the earth.


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 dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
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.
‫‪‬‬
‫حسنك المغري بصيف قد تجلّى‬
‫من ذا يقارن‬
‫ِ‬
‫وفنون سحرك قد بدت في ناظري أسمى وأغلى‬
‫تجني الرياح العاتيات على البراعم وهي جذلى‬
‫والصيف يمضي مسرعا إذ عقده المحدود ولّى‬
‫كم أشرقت عين السماء بحرّها تتلّهب‬
‫و لكم خبا في وجهها الذهبي نور يغرب‬
‫ال بد للحسن البهي عن الجميل سيذهب‬
‫فالدهر تغيير وأطوار الطبيعة قلّب‬
‫صيفك سرمدي ما اعتراه ذبول‬
‫لكن‬
‫ِ‬
‫ّ‬
‫ت فهو بخيل‬
‫لن يفقد الحسن الذي ملك ِ‬
‫بظلك في حماه يجول‬
‫والموت لن يزهو‬
‫ِ‬
‫وفيك أقول‬
‫ستعاصرين الدهر في شعري‬
‫ِ‬
‫‪‬‬
‫ما دامت األنفاس تصعد والعيون تح ّ‬
‫دق‬
‫وعليك عمرا يغدق‪.‬‬
‫سيظل شعري خالدا‬
‫ِ‬
‫فطينة النائب‬


In “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”,
John Milton employs a rhyme pattern, rhythm,
meter, Biblical references, and the diction of
archaic language to successfully complete this
Petrarchan sonnet.
The speaker and audience are obvious and
unique from other poems. All of these elements
work together as the speaker reflects in the
octet how the one who took away his light now
expects labor from him; the sestet is the Lord’s
kind answer to his servant.














When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?“
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."


The first eight lines are spoken by the one
who raises the issue of the doubts that cloud
his faith. Following these lines, the audience
becomes the speaker who attempts to kindly
give the doubting man peace.
Because of the contents of the octet, many
are led to believe that the speaker was Milton
himself.


Although there is not a great amount of
figurative language in this work, the figurative
language that it has is very strong. For example,
the idea that hiding one’s talent (line 3) brings
about death is a strong correlation to make, and
it displays the speaker’s feelings on this parable.
The speaker’s reflection at this time shows that
his wonderment is the basis for the poem, and
his also tells the reader that this poem is to be
about his uncertainty.


As the second line begins with the archaic
contraction, “Ere,” the reader is led to know
that the writing of this poem took place long
ago and that the denotation of some words
was no doubt different then.
Because of the content of the speaker’s
question, the meaning of this word could
signify his spiritual darkness or the physically
dark world the writer had begun to live in.


Next, the speaker goes on to ask the question
that seems to be weighing heavily upon his soul.
Knowing of the talent God gave him, he fearfully
asks how the Lord could give him an unusable
quality and yet require that he put it to use.
These last two lines of the octet are quite
possibly the most important, for it is here that
the speaker presents his problem, yet knowing
that it is foolish to ask questions of the allknowing God.
As the sestet begins, it would seem that either the
position of speaker is changed from the man to God,
or the man simply reports on God’s response.
 The Lord begins by reminding the man that he does
not desire works, but rather those who take his mild
yoke upon themselves, as he invites the man to do.
 He then goes on to remind the man that, not only is
he a king, but he also has thousands of angels at his
disposal. Therefore, the man ought not to worry but
instead put his faith in one higher than himself.


In conclusion, the audience cannot know
definitely what the speaker’s “darkness”
meant to him, or if he possibly meant this
poem as a lesson for fellow Christians.
However, by evaluating the different aspects
of the work, it is possible for the reader to
read someone else’s words and still make the
text explicit for all to comprehend.

I love to see the old heath's withered brake
Mingle its crimpled leaves with furze and ling,
While the old heron from the lonely lake
Starts slow and flaps his melancholy wing,
And oddling crow in idle motions swing
On the half rotten ashtree's topmost twig,
Beside whose trunk the gipsy makes his bed.
Up flies the bouncing woodcock from the brig
Where a black quagmire quakes beneath the tread,
The fieldfares chatter in the whistling thorn
And for the awe round fields and closen rove,
And coy bumbarrels twenty in a drove
Flit down the hedgerows in the frozen plain
And hang on little twigs and start again.


It was common in Claire’s time for poets to
praise (glorify) the virtues of a rural, pastoral
(country) life in idealistic terms.
In Clare’s sonnets, the relationship between
self and nature is a matter of intense and
sustained engagement. His deep sense of
attachment is immediately apparent in his
poetry: Clare writes for and about a
particular place and a particular community.
The sonnet opens with a declaration of personal affection for the
heath (meadow) and the creatures that dwell (live) there.
 There’s a constant introduction of new impressions. It is as if the
speaker’s identity has emerged with the scene he describes, and
as if the poem wishes to keep things going at a time when such
places are threatened with change. The Heath is winter land;
therefore it is withered (dry), crimpled (wrinkled), and frozen. The
mood seems bleak (gloomy) and melancholic (sad). Clare’s
attempt to establish his sense of being in relationship to the place
he knew at a time of immense social upheaval (violent change) led
to acute (severe) identity crisis. The poem speaks of the crushing
defeat and loss of freedom that accompanied Claire’s deep sense
of social alienation (isolation).

Before the 19th century, the tradition of the sonnet was
the man was usually the speaking, acting lover, and the
woman was usually the silent, passive beloved.
 In the love sonnets, the idealized woman is the object of
desire but she is not seen to have desires of her own. In
many instances, it is the absence or the death of the
woman that inspires the poet’s love. It was very unusual
for a woman to express her feeling openly in a sonnet. The
sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 –
1861) and Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) contrast with a
long tradition of love poetry by men, and they redefine the
possibilities of the sonnet form.


The sonnet opens with a question and constructs a set of
answers, and it creates a strong impression of a confiding,
familiar voice. It lists the 8 ways in which the speaker
admits her love. There’s very little imagery, and the
language seems simple and modest. The images of space
and of time are used very lightly to intensify the idea of a
love that both spiritual and physical, both yearning for
infinity and yet answering each day’s earthly needs. This
love is given freely, purely, instinctively, and unselfishly.
The sonnet proposes 4 ways of passionate love spent on
past hopes and sorrow, intense religious devotion, all the
emotions of an entire life, and eternal togetherness in
heaven.

The sonnet belongs to “The School of
Eloquence”, but its main concern is the
struggle of the inarticulate (people who suffer
from a disability of a fluent speech).
Harrison’s sonnet is different from the usual
sonnet because it has 16 lines rather than 14,
yet it retains the features of the traditional
rhyme scheme of a sonnet.
“Marked With D” is an elegy (a poem or song of grief and praise for
the dead) for Harrison’s father, who used to be a baker. The title is
taken from a famous nursery rhyme, and it recalls the practice of
marking the bread with initials and symbols.
 “Marked With D” brings together two sets of images, from work
(chilled dough, oven, & flour) and death (cold body, cremation, &
ashes). The steady progression of the sonnet allows the voice of
the poem to modulate (change) from sorrow to anger. Many of
the words and images in the poem have to do with the workingclass and with feelings of inferiority induced by class
condescension (attitude towards lesser classes).
 The sonnet shows an intimate elegy that shifts from paternal to an
angry condemnation of England and its deep divisive class society.
