EXERCISE 1 PAGE 135

• Prepare a written report based on the following mind map.

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

Shakespeare's sonnets are poems that William Shakespeare wrote on a variety of themes. He wrote them between 1592 and 1598. They – 154 all together, initially circulated in manuscript form and were published only in 1609.

The sonnets are almost all constructed of three quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a final couplet. The sonnets are composed in iambic pentameter, the meter used in Shakespeare's plays. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets, or English sonnets, or Elizabethan sonnets. The third quatrain generally introduces an unexpected change of image or tone. The sonnets are divided into two different sections or sequences; the first section is addressed to a young man, the ‘’fait youth’’ , the second to a woman, the ‘’dark lady’’. Some theories suggest that the ‘’fair youth’’ is the Mr W.H of the dedication. As for the dark lady, many biographers think she could be Mary Fitton, one of Queen Elizabeth’s maids of honour.

The themes of Shakespeare’s  Sonnets are about love; they appear to be dedicated to a handsome boy and a rival poet together with a mysterious and aloof "dark" lady that they both love, they explore the feeling of love in all it various manifestations.                                                                                              The first 17 poems, traditionally called the ‘procreation sonnets’, urge the young man to marry and have children. Whit sonnet 18 the tone changes : the speaker praises the young man’s beauty, expresses love or passionate concern for him. Time is another recurring theme. Shakespeare portrays time as enemy of love. Time destroys love because it causes beauty to fade, people to age, and life to end : by writing about the fair youth and the dark lady, Shakespeare makes them forever young and immortal, Shakespeare’s sonnets subvert the classic, traditional themes typical of the Petrarchan tradition. Shakespeare also speak about sexual desire and creates a more complex portrayal of human love.

Shakespeare builds his images and meaning through a number of recurring symbols. Flowers, plants and trees, for example, not only illustrate beauty but also the passage of time; stars influences the destinies of human beings; weather and the seasons mark the ages of men.