SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
STUDENTS WILL:
• Identify and label parts of a sonnet.
• Analyze sonnet for syntax and meaning.
• Paraphrase sonnet.
TNCORE STANDARD:
•
RL 5 : Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts
of a text contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic
impact.
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 wand'rest 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.
SONNET 18 – MODERN PARAPHRASE
OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer day
But, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calm
Because sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get shaken off
And sometimes summer doesn't last very long
Sometimes it's too hot
And everything gorgeous loses its looks
By getting hit by a truck Or just because everyone and everything gets old and
ugly and shabby
BUT (and here's the turn) you're going to keep your looks for ever
Your beauty will last for ever
I'm going to make sure that you never lose your good looks
And that nasty old Death can never brag about owning you
Because I shall write this poem about you
As long as men can breathe (are you breathing?)
As long as men can see (are you looking at this poem?)
Then this poem lives, and it gives life and memory to your beauty.
A FEW NOTES!
Shakespearean Sonnet:
 14 line stanza written in iambic pentameter
 Employs the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef,gg
 Three quatrains and a couplet.
Iambic Pentameter: lines of poetry that can be divided into 5 metric feet with
alternately unstressed and stressed syllables.
 Shall I/ compare/ thee to/ a sum/ mer's day
Thou art/ more lov/ly and/ more temp/orate
SONNET 29
WHEN IN DISGRACE WITH FORTUNE AND MEN'S EYES,
I A L L A L O N E B E W E E P M Y O U TC A S T S TAT E ,
AN D TRO UB LE DEAF HEAVEN W I T H M Y B O OTLESS CRI ES,
A N D L O O K U P O N M Y S E L F A N D C U R S E M Y FAT E ,
WISHING ME LIKE TO ONE MORE RICH IN HOPE,
F E AT U R E D L I K E H I M , L I K E H I M W I T H F R I E N D S P O S S E S S E D ,
D E S I R I N G T H I S M A N ' S A R T, A N D T H AT M A N ' S S C O P E ,
W I T H W H AT I M O S T E N J OY C O N T E N T E D L E A S T,
YET IN THESE THOUGHTS MY SELF ALMOST DESPISING,
H A P LY I T H I N K O N T H E E , A N D T H E N M Y S TAT E ,
( L I K E TO T H E L A R K AT B R E A K O F D AY A R I S I N G
F R O M S U L L E N E A R T H ) S I N G S H Y M N S AT H E AV E N ' S G AT E ,
F O R T H Y S W E E T L O V E R E M E M B E R E D S U C H W E A LT H B R I N G S ,
T H AT T H E N I S C O R N TO C H A N G E M Y S TAT E W I T H K I N G S .
SONNET 29 – MODERN
PARAPHRASE
WHEN I FEEL UNLUCKY AND AS IF NO ONE LIKES ME
AND I FEEL ALL ALONE AND CRY
A N D IT ' S A S IF M Y PR AY E R S TO HE AV E N HAV E N O POW E R AT A LL
BECAUSE NO ONE IS LISTENING
A N D I FE E L S O R RY FO R M YS E LF A N D T HIN K T HAT ' M T HE
UNLUCKIEST PERSON ALIVE
I W IS H T HAT I HA D T HAT PE R S O N S O PPO RT U N IT IE S
T HAT I LO O K E D LIK E T HAT C U T E PE R S O N A N D WA S A S PO PU LA R A S
THE MOST POPULAR PERSON IN MY CLASS
W IS HIN G T HAT I HA D T HAT M A N ' S TA LE N T, A N D T HAT M A N ' S
U N D E R STA N D I N G O F D I F F I C U LT C O N C E P T S
N OT AT A L L H A P P Y W I T H T H E T H I N G S I U S UA L LY E N J OY.
E V E N T HE N , A LM O ST HAT IN G M YS E LF FO R T HIN K IN G T HIS WAY
PERHAPS MY THOUGHTS THINK ABOUT YOU, AND THEN MY SOUL,
J U ST LIK E T HE LA R K T HAT S IN G S AT T HE M O M E N T T HE LIG HT O F DAY
BREAKS OVER THE COLD EARTH, SINGS A SONG FILLED WITH JOY
AND LIGHT
BECAUSE I REMEMBER THE SWEET LOVE WE SHARE, AND THE
R IC HN E S S T HAT IT B R IN G S
A N D , AT T HAT PO IN T, R E M E M B E R IN G W HAT W E HAV E TO G E T HE R , I
WOULDN'T CHANGE
MY PRESENT CONDITION EVEN WITH A KING.
PARAPHRASE
A paraphrase takes difficult language and explains it in easier, more
understandable, language. It is usually as long as and often longer than
the original piece. It does not contain any of the original language.
Directions:
1.
Read Sonnet 130 silently and then with your table neighbor label all
the parts of the sonnet- rhyme scheme, quatrains & couplet, iambic
pentameter.
2.
Paraphrase Sonnet 130 in the same way as Sonnet 18 & 29.