Monday, May 30, 2011

Sonnets 30-35

223.

hello Shakespeare lovers! i am in serious need of some help here. i feel like i'm not getting all i could be getting from the sonnets. i read six between each play, and i always feel like i'm just skimming the surface. do you know a lot about the sonnets? or are you just good at analyzing poetry? or do you just love them and want to discuss them? please, let's start a conversation! comment below if you want to play!


#30- a lovely poem describing the power friendship has to move us beyond our past woes. 'but if the while i think on you, dear friend,/all losses are restored and sorrows end.'

#31- i'm not positive, but i think this sonnet is exploring the idea of finding that one person who has every quality you've wanted in your past loves, all wrapped up in one. ???

#32- in this sonnet, the writer begs the person for whom the sonnet was written to appreciate the love that has been put into his poems even when better writers come along in the future. don't contrast and compare!

#33- in a departure from what we have read prior to this, this sonnet describes the beauty of morning and how unfortunate it is when 'base' afternoon comes and ruins it.

#34- continuing from the previous sonnet, the narrator asks why 'you' have to take morning away for that pest, afternoon.

#35- i love this sonnet. it describes beautifully the complexity of forgiveness. (read below.)


can anyone help me with sonnet 31? i am struggling with it.

what is with all of these sonnets where Shakespeare talks about how his poetry isn't good enough and won't stand the test of time? is this his insecurity popping up, or is it just false modesty? i wouldn't think it was any big deal, but it comes up quite a bit. i saw it today in sonnet 32. it seems a little self-indulgent to me, but maybe that's just my perception. what do you think?

it also seems like Shakespeare is preoccupied with death and living on after death. we see it in 32, but we also see it in all those earlier sonnets when he goes on and on about his "friend" having kids so he will live on. it's a little odd. i wonder if we will see more.

sonnet 34? to whom is he talking to? God? mother nature? etc.?

quote of the day:
'no more be grieved at that which thou hast done.
roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud,
clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
and loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
all men make faults, and even i in this,
authorizing thy trespass with compare,
myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,
excusing thy sins more than thy sins are.
for to thy sensual fault i bring in sense--
thy adverse party is thy advocate--
and 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence.
such civil wars is in my love and hate
     that i an accessary needs must be
     to that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.'
   -sonnet 35

for tomorrow: A Midsummer Night's Dream Intro Info

10 plays, 4 poems, 35 sonnets down. 28 plays, 1 poem, 119 sonnets to go!

-rebecca may

1 comment:

  1. I wrote a post recently about how much I disliked the sonnets and someone recommended a helpful book in the comments: http://www.mostgladly.net/cj/2011/05/in-which-i-acquire-a-new-wardrobe.html

    ReplyDelete