Shakespeare

1
Shakespeares Sonnets
                                 

• 18 Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day
• 73 That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behond
• from Romeo and Juliet

2
Sonnets Subject Matter

• 154 altogether
• 1-17 urge a young man to get married and have
  babies
• 18 -126 human mortality and immortality of
  poetry
• 127 ?154 The dark lady sequence
• (e.g. 116 -- Let me not to the marriage of true
  mind Admit impediments
• -- 130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the
  sun _

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18 Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day

• Two Kinds of Summer

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (about 1527-1593) source
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18. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? by
Shakespeare
Images of decay Repetition contrast?

• 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
• (trim To make neat, or to adjust or balance a
  ship)
• Summer temporary (with a lease), sun the
  eye of heaven, with a face
• Changes and decay regular sometimes, chancy
  and irregular sometimes

Spondee
/
/
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/
5
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? by
Shakespeare

• 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.

1. owst own, possess
2. This the poem

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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? by
Shakespeare

• 1st reading
• ???????????????
• ??????????
• Poetic device
• Hyperbole thou growst in these eternal lines
• repetition Every fair from fair
• See contradictions in the next slide

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Apparent Contradictions in Stanza 1
1) Thou art more lovely and more temperate2) Thy
eternal summer

• 2) Images of transience or violence
• Rough winds shakes
• summer's lease . .. too short a date
• too hot the eye of heaven
• Suns gold complexion dimm'd

• 1) Summers images of beauty
• (Rough winds vs.) the darling buds of May
• every fair from fair sometime declines

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Actual Similarities and Ambiguities in Stanza 2

• 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.

• Two Nors made possible by the poem
• That fair thou owst vs. every fair from fair
  owst growst
• You owe your immortality to this poem

As always, the closing couplet is the punch line
which not only defines the meaning of the whole
poem, but also provides richer meanings.
9
Howard Moss (1922-1987) "Shall I Compare Thee to
a Summer's Day"

• Who says you're like one of the dog days?
• You're nicer. And better.
• Even in May, the weather can be gray,
• And a summer sub-let doesn't last forever.

• 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

Dog days (??? ) Sub-let ?? allow some one to
rend a room which you are renting from someone
else ? who is the first tenant?
10
Howard Moss (1922-1987) "Shall I Compare Thee to
a Summer's Day"

• Sometimes the sun's too hot
• Sometimes it is not.
• Who can stay young forever?
• People break their necks or just drop dead!

• 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

11
Howard Moss's "Shall I Compare Thee to a
Summer's Day"

• 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.

• But you? Never!
• If theres just one condensed reader left
• Who can figure out the abridged alphabet,
• After you're dead and gone,
• In this poem you'll live on!

Condensed reduced in length, thickened reader
(?????) abridged alphabet (????? cell phone
literature?
Is immortality ever guaranteed? Even literature
can be forgotten or ignored.
12
That time of year thou mayst in me behold

• Sonnet 73

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Sonnet 73 THE 1609 QUARTO VERSION

•  THat time of yeeare thou mai?t in me behold,
  When yellow leaues,or none,or fewe doe hange
• Vpon tho?e boughes which ?hake again?t the could,
  Bare rn'wd quiers,where late the ?weet birds
  ?ang. In me thou ?ee?t the twi-light of ?uch
  day, As after Sun-?et fadeth in the We?t, Which
  by and by blacke night doth take away, Deaths
  ?econd ?elfe that ?eals vp all in re?t In me
  thou ?ee?t the glowing of ?uch fire, That on the
  a?hes of his youth doth lye, As the death
  bed,whereon it mu?t expire,Con?um'd with that
  which it was nurri?ht by.   This thou
  perceu'?t,which makes thy loue more ?trong,   To
  loue that well,which thou mu?t leaue ere long.

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Sonnet 73

1. Development of imagery metaphor similes
2. Sound effects? caesura and spondaic rhythm?

/
/

• That time of year thou mayst in me behold
• When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
• Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
• Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds
  sang.
• In me thou seest the twilight of such day
• As after sunset fadeth in the west,
• Which by and by black night doth take away,
• Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

/
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/
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Sonnet 73

1. Development of imagery metaphor similes
2. Sound effects? caesura and spondaic rhythm?

• In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
• That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
• As the death-bed whereon it must expire
• Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
• This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more
  strong,
• To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

/
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This and that

• This mortality
• that that person, me, the poet. Alternatively -
  your youth and freshness which is doomed to the
  same fate. well - could include a pun on Will,
  the poet's name. (source)

autumn, A few leaves? bare choir
evening Twilight ? sunset ? black night and all in rest
extinguishing fire Fire ? ashes
17
How is this poem different from To His Coy
Mistress?

• That Time of Year
• Time and energies diminishing
• I will parish.
• Time natural phenomena
• Ambiguity (love that well)

• To His Coy Mistress
• Contrast between lack of time/space and the
  imaginary ones
• The lady will parish graphic images of the tomb
  
• Time wingd chariot morning dew, transpiring
  soul
• Enjoy time to the fullest (in sexual terms)
• To His Coy Mistress

18
That Time of Year

• The Renaissance concepts of the duality of
  microcosm and macrocosm
• The speaker places himself in the universe of
  changes and uses winter/day/fire to parallel the
  end of his life.
• The fire can also be the funereal pyre(???)?
  where his body is turned to dust.
• No witticism of in the play of transient summer
  and thy eternal summer (as in Shall I Compare
  Thee to a Summers Day?)

19
Romeo Juliet

• the Courting Sonnet
• Act I, Scene V

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Love at First Sight (I, v, 41-53)
ROMEO To a Servingman What lady is that, which
doth enrich the handOf yonder knight? Servant
I know not, sir. ROMEO O, she doth teach the
torches to burn bright!It seems she hangs upon
the cheek of nightLike a rich jewel in an
Ethiope's earBeauty too rich for use, for earth
too dear!So shows a snowy dove trooping with
crows,As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.The
measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,And,
touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.Did my
heart love till now? forswear it, sight!For I
ne'er saw true beauty till this night. TYBALT
This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
Seen across a crowded room Context Benvolio
(I, i, 226) have brought Romeo to the Masque so
that he will see other women, and thus have his
mind taken off his obsession Rosalinde
likewise, Capulet has brought Paris there under
the same advice (I, ii, 31) The irony is,
therefore, that once they set eyes on each other,
they see no-one else establishing their own
personal PRIVATE SPACE within the PUBLIC realm of
the masque.
source
21
Metaphors?
Act I, v, 92 106
ROMEO To JULIET If I profane with my
unworthiest hand aThis holy shrine, the
gentle sin is this bMy lips, two blushing
pilgrims, ready stand aTo smooth that rough
touch with a tender kiss. b JULIET Good
pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, cWhich
mannerly devotion shows in this dFor saints
have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, cAnd
palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. d ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers
too? e JULIET Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must
use in prayer. f ROMEO O, then, dear saint, let
lips do what hands do eThey pray grant thou,
lest faith turn to despair. f JULIET Saints do
not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
g ROMEO Then move not, while my prayer's effect
I take. g (kiss)Thus from my lips, by yours, my
sin is purged.
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Act I, v, 92 106
JULIET Then have my lips the sin that they have
took. ROMEO Sin from thy lips? O trespass
sweetly urged!Give me my sin again. JULIET You
kiss by the book.
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Images religious

• Romeo -- hands and lips pilgrimage
• Profane (verb) to treat something sacred, holy,
  or special with abuse. 
• Shrine Juliet or her hand  (noun)  a place
  where pilgrims visit to pray to and worship a
  saint. Usually with a statue or relic of a saint.
  
• Pilgrim or Palmer (a person wearing two crossed
  palm leaves as a sign of pilgrimage to the Holy
  Land.)
• Puns palm hand, palm leaves  

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Conceit Extended and Developed Metaphor of
pilgrimage and purgation

• Juliets argument
• Juliet a HOLY SHRINE.
• Juliet -- Good pilgrim Romeo saint Juliet
  
• holy palmers kiss palm to palm
• 3. Juliet lips for prayer
• Saints do not move initiate things, move.
• Sin taken
• Kiss by the book (sonnet, rules, Bible)

• Romeos argument
• Romeos lips TWO BLUSHING PILGRIMS 
• Romeos kiss on her hand GENTLE SIN
• Romeo use lips
• O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do
  
• kiss ? sin purged ? (2nd kiss) sin taken back.
• (Whats the sin? Touching her hand)

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How is this poem different from The Flea?

• The Courting Sonnet
• Religious imagery (pilgrim, shrine)
• Kiss smooth the rough touch, purge and takes
  the sin.
• The lady rebukes the argument and then complies
  with it.

• The Flea
• Religious imagery (three in one, cloister???)
• Flea sacred union marriage and birth
• The lady kills the flea, which is used by the
  speaker to change and win the argument.

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Courtly Love and Courting Sonnets

• Courtly Love originated in the court, the
  illicit love between a knight and the queen as
  his lady (e.g. King Arthurs legends, Tristan and
  Iseult) , the love which inspires the knight to
  go on a noble quest.
• the Petrarchan tradition of courtly love poetry
  (Laura) e.g. common paradoxes about courtly love
  such as "sweet torment" and "shivering at
  midsummer."
• Shakespeare courting sonnets and sonnets on
  love, poetry mortality
• The Metaphysical Poetry witty seduction and
  platonic love.

Image source