Lovers, friends and enemies
Bac folder:
la rencontre avec l’autre, l’amour, l’amitié
= meeting other people, love and friendship
(Sonnet 130)
Romeo and Juliet
West Side Story
“a rose by any other name
would smell as sweet”
• Passport lit p 49 : the I.Ms of Romeo and Juliet
• P53 Romeo and Juliet (+ Dicaprio video)
• P52 West Side Story: tonight (video)
Toolbox p 51 and Figures of Speech.
Final Task: Broadway, 1957. Interview Arthur
Laurents about West Side Story.
Comic Relief
Raise your hand when
1) you hear the definition of the sonnet
2) You hear an imitation of Shakespeare’s language
3) You hear sonnet 130
1. What is the theme of this sonnet?
2. Explain the message of the 3 quatrains and then of the last couplet.
Read sonnet 130 ( used at the end of Catherine Tate’s Comic Relief video)
Fill in the blanks with the words:
conventional / parody / embrace / compare/ mocking / illustrate / metaphors
Sonnet 130 is clearly a ______________ of the ______________ love sonnet, made popular
by Petrarch and, in particular, made popular in England by Sidney's epic poem Astrophel
and Stella. If you compare it to Sonnet 130, you will see exactly what Shakespeare is
____________
In Sonnet 130, there is no use of grandiose metaphor or allusion; he does not
______________ his love to Venus, there is no evocation to Morpheus... The ordinary
beauty and humanity of his lover are important to Shakespeare in this sonnet.
Usually, the features of the poet's lover are more beautiful than the finest pearls,
diamonds, rubies, and silk. In Sonnet 130, the references to such objects of perfection are
there to ________________ that his lover is not as beautiful -- a total rejection of Petrarch
form and content.
The first twelve lines of the sonnet amount to a point-by-point rejection of many of the
standard ________________ and similes of English and European love poetry: His
mistress’s cheeks are not like roses; her breath is not like perfume; her speech is not like
music…
But Shakespeare ends the sonnet by proclaiming his love for his mistress despite her lack of
beauty, so he does finally ___________the fundamental theme in Petrarch's sonnets: total
and consuming love.
Figures of Speech
• On your worksheet, highlight in yellow the
ones that you already know (from French
lessons…)
• Focus on Metaphor, simile, oxymoron, and
irony. Which is which?
1) a character stepping out into a
hurricane and saying, “What nice
weather we’re having!”
2) “Sonnet 18,”also known as “Shall
I Compare Thee to a Summer’s
Day,” is an extended ????
3) "Indeed I never shall be satisfied
with Romeo till I behold him - dead."
Juliet here talks about her eternal love
for Romeo, but she speaks it out in
such a way that her mother believes
that she wants to kill him.
6) “Camperdown, Copenhagen,
Trafalgar — these names thunder
in memory like the booming of
great guns.” — Mutiny on the Bounty, by
Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
4) “I am a deeply superficial
person." - Andy Warhol
5) Her voice is music
to his ears.
The Internet messages of Romeo and Juliet
1. Compare the two pictures.
2. Read the Cartoon p 49, decipher and comment it.
3. Then discuss a reader’s reaction.
The IMs of Romeo and Juliet p49
• What’s the short version for:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Hugs and kisses
How do you do?
Why?
I’ve got to go!
He says
Both of my parents hate you
•
What elements are missing, that you can find in the original
extract p 53?
A reader’s reaction
Roz Chast wrote a modern I.M. version of Romeo and Juliet. In her
version everything is shortened, and she uses new age slang. I think she is
trying to show how communication has changed drastically because of
technology. The characters say almost nothing. Their feelings of love and the
emotional drama that comes from the real story is taken away in the modern
version. They are just two teenagers talking of their day. I don't feel the love or
emotion that I felt when reading the real version of this story. I think the
author is showing that technology has taken away the feeling that we have
when communicating. Since they are not actually talking face to face emotions
can be misinterpreted and not understood. How can you tell someone that you
love them through a couple minute I.M.?
Posted by D Rasegan at 12:27 PM
Do you agree? Discuss.
Is a love story like Romeo and Juliet’s impossible today?
Do you know more modern stories derived from it?
Tonight tonight
Tony and Maria…
Do they smell as sweet?
1) Book p 52-53 Compare the texts by answering
the questions.
Compare
Time
Places
Characters and
their
background
action
R and J
WSS
2.3) Compare lines 14-19 WSS and 6-9 R+J/ rhythm.
4) React: does the musical explore / explode R+J?
For More on WSS:
Watch this extract and explain the context
Memorize the vocabulary p 51
columns 1 and 2 and play!
• Give a synonym for:
Canon / playwright / a line / a soliloquy / copy
Resemble / transformation
• What types of transformation can a writer
make?
Final Task: Interview Arthur Laurents
EOI Impro!
• You are a journalist who works for a very
serious and classic literary magazine.
 Ask questions about Laurents’s influences.
 You think he has exploded the original work, make
your point.
• You are Arthur Laurents
explain your choices,
prove that you have explored the canon and
have given it more sense for today’s audience