The Duke at Bardland:
Modern Musical Interpretations of Shakespearean Sonnet Style
Lesson Focus and Objective:
Most students find popular music as accessible as they find Shakespeare’s language and
meter challenging. This lesson utilizes jazz and popular music to reinforce a previous
lesson on the basic technical aspects of iambic pentameter or blank verse. Before
starting the lesson, students should have been introduced to the basics of Shakespearean
sonnet structure (14-line lyrical poem) and iambic pentameter (i.e. ten syllables per line,
alternating stressed and unstressed syllables etc.). Focusing on how Shakespeare’s
signature style of poetry and its meter are reinterpreted by more recent composers and
musicians renders Shakespeare’s writing style more accessible and relevant to students,
thus empowering them to develop their own metrically accurate interpretations in the
forms of original sonnets or soliloquies.
This Lesson Aligns with the Following Common Core State Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.7 Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in
two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.9 Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source
material in a specific work.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5 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.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or
poem, evaluating how each version interprets the source text.
Grade Levels: 9-12
Text:
Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare
Materials/Resources:
1. Copies of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29, double spaced, so that students can mark
them up.
2. Copies of “3-2-1” Chart handout for formative assessment. (Provided below)
3. Video recordings from YouTube* of the following (See links below):
a. “Heartbeat Sound Effect” (Optional)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pOlVJTgU4s
b. “I Believe I Can Fly” (with lyrics) by R. Kelly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUpPVOEkdA
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c. Excerpt from Antoni Cimolino/Stradford interview from
ShakespeareIs.org (time signature- 00:39:32 to approx.. 00:40:38)
d. “Sonnet for Caesar” by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmiSbPsnYbU
(Fast forward three and a half minutes into video recording)
e. “Sonnet 29” by Rufus Wainwright
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngk4sRQ2C-Y
*If you cannot access YouTube for classroom use, audio recordings of each of the above
musical selections are readily accessible for nominal fees via iTunes, Amazon and other
vendors.
Procedure:
1. For a DO NOW activity, hand out hard copies of Sonnet 29 by William
Shakespeare (“When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”) as students enter
the room. Instruct students to begin reading the sonnet with a partner for
syllabication only. Students should have previous lesson’s sonnet notes on their
desks for reference.
2. Once class is settled and students are reading, begin playing the heartbeat sound
effect. As students begin to react to the sound, elicit responses that note the
similarities between the sound effect and the meter of the poem. Introduce
students to the idea that one line of iambic pentameter is meant to imitate the
rhythm of five human heartbeats.
3. Ask the class to read a few lines of the sonnet chorally to the beat of the sound
effect.
4. Next, tell the class that they are going to listen to a very popular song for how it
incorporates these “five heartbeats”. Play “I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly.
[With careful listening, students should be able to discern that the verses are
written in iambic pentameter]. Tell students that another easy way to recognize
iambic pentameter (apart from the “five heartbeats”) is if they can “sing” a line of
poetry to the melody of the verses of this song. [Student volunteers may want to
try this with Sonnet 29 for starters].
5. Point out to students that while the rhythmic connection between Shakespeare and
R. Kelly may be coincidental, legendary American composer and band leader,
Duke Ellington, a great admirer of Shakespeare’s works, composed an entire suite
of music, Such Sweet Thunder, inspired by Shakespearean characters and
dedicated to a famous Shakespeare festival in Ontario, Canada: [Play two-minute
excerpt from Antoni Cimolino interview].
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00:39:32 AC: Well, he came here in the 1950s. First of all, I think for the year
that Chris Plummer was playing Hamlet. That would have been, I bet, in
1958, and was just really interested in Shakespeare. And he would sit and
just listen; he would be at the back of the room listening. One day during one
of the dress rehearsals Christopher Plummer who, you know, could get very
antsy at times if you're in that moment where you're just trying to make sure
you've learned our lines and you're getting ready to get on and he was in a
dress rehearsal and he noticed somebody at the back just sitting on the steps
listening, and he stopped the rehearsal and he said to the director, "Look,
can we please clear the tent of people who aren't in the show? I just want to .
. . ."
00:40:10 And the director, Michael Langham, said "Chris, just a moment.
Do you mind if I introduce you to someone who is here as our guest." And he
brought him up and he said, "This is Duke Ellington." And Chris, you know,
just kind of was mortified because he's a huge jazz fan and a great piano
player and just, you know, fell down the steps backwards, went back on the
stage.
00:40:32 And eventually Ellington wrote, you know, an ode to that Hamlet.
He then wrote – composed beautiful music for Michael Langham's
production of Timon of Athens, and was here and was a major fan. And you
can, in listening to the arithmetic – the joyous and complex arithmetic that is
in Ellington's music – you could see why he would be an enormous fan of
Shakespeare. Just, you know, just because of what – the juxtapositions that
are there in Shakespeare's language as well as what it does to your heart.
6. Four of the pieces in Such Sweet Thunder are musical “sonnets” in which
Ellington uses music to literally re-create the sonnet structure, including the
iambic pentameter and the 14 lines.
7. As an introduction to Ellington’s “Sonnet for Caesar”, ask students what they
might expect a musical sonnet based on a tragedy to sound like. What
instruments might best reflect the story of the hero’s downfall or the tragedy’s
solemn tone? [Elicit thoughts/suggestions briefly and then play video.] As music
plays, help students recognize the fourteen ten-note “lines” of the sonnet played
by a solo clarinet [If time permits, re-play all or part of the piece]. After listening,
ask students to discuss how Ellington interprets the “five heartbeats” [They
should note that he slows them down considerably (to achieve a dirge-like effect)]
Ask: How does this interpretation affect the mood of the “sonnet”? Discuss.
8. Finally, call students’ attention back to Sonnet 29. At this point students would
have read the sonnet but may still not have truly understood it. Keeping this in
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mind, play Rufus Wainwright’s musical version, asking class to focus primarily
on the mood of the song. Ask: Does the mood remain static as in “Sonnet for
Caesar” or does it shift? If so, where? [Note: There are musical variances among
all three quatrains and the final couplet however the most notable shift in mood
occurs during the third quatrain, as the speaker’s state of mind improves]. Again,
replay video if time permits and continue discussion as needed.
Suggested Formative Assessments:
A. At the end of the lesson, ask students to complete individual “3-2-1” charts:
3 Things I Learned
2 Things I Found Interesting
1 Question I Still Have
Students may complete these at home and return them the following day as “admit
slips” if time is an issue.
B. Challenge students to find other popular songs that employ iambic pentameter.
Going Forward:
For the ensuing lesson, you may want to re-visit the Wainwright piece to help
illustrate how the quatrains and final couplet operate as units within Shakespeare’s
sonnets. Then have students apply what they’ve learned in these lessons to close
readings of self or teacher-selected Shakespearean sonnets and soliloquies.
Suggested Summative Assessment:
Assign students to compose original sonnets or soliloquies in iambic pentameter to
perform for their classmates. Final products may be rendered in words, music, or
both.
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Title of Lesson: _________________________________
Date: ____________________________________
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Things I Learned Today
Things I Found Interesting
Question I Still Have
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