Explicating Poetry: 5 Steps

1- Examine the situation in the poem

2- Examine the structure in the poem 3- Examine the language in the poem 4- Examine the musical devices in the poem 5- Write about your conclusions!

William Shakespeare
c. 1564-1616 b. Stratford-uponAvon, England Wrote during Renaissance time period Time of metaphysical and carpe diem poetry

Shakespearean Sonnets
1609 Quarto only source of most 152

Shakespearean Sonnets.

There are 3 categories of poems in this

Quarto: 1-126 are addressed to The Fair Youth 127-152 are addressed to The Dark Mistress A Lovers Complaint a 329 line poem written in Rhyme Royal (a-b-a-b-b-c-c)

Shakespeares Addressees
The Fair Youth (sonnets 1-126)
An unnamed young man Written to in loving and romantic language Some suggest this may be a homosexual love, others

find support that it is platonic, or father-son love

The Dark Lady (sonnets 127-152)

Given this name because of she is described as being

dark haired The sonnets written about her express infatuation and are more sexual in nature

Shakespearean Sonnet Form

Still 14 lines
Broken into 4 parts
3 quatrains- 4 line stanza 1 rhyming couplet- 2 line stanza

Written in iambic pentameter:

/ / / / / Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

Shakespearean Sonnet Form

Rhyme Scheme: Quatrain 1: a b a b [introduces question] Quatrain 2: c d c d [tentative Quatrain 3: e f e f answers] Rhyming Couplet: g g [final answer] Volta: The turn or transition in line 9 which marks a shift in focus or thought

SONNET 55
Not marble nor the gilded monuments Of princes shall outlive this pow'rful rhyme, But you shall shine more bright in these contnts Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword, nor wars quick fire, shall burn The living record of your memory. 'Gainst death and all oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom. So till the judgment that yourself arise, You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

Paraphrase

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Not marble, nor the gold-plated shrines

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; Of princes shall outlive the power of poetry; But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn, You shall shine more bright in these verses Than on dust-covered gravestones, ravaged by time. When devastating war shall overturn statues,

And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

And conflicts destroy the mason's handiwork, the cause of war (Mars) nor the effects of war (fire) shall destroy The living record of your memory (this poem).

Against death and destruction, which render people forgotten, Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find Shall you push onward; praise of you will room always find a place, Even in the eyes of all posterity Even in the eyes of future generations That wear this world out to the ending doom. That survive until the end of humanity. So, till the judgment that yourself arise, You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes. So, until you arise on Judgment Day, You are immortalized in this poetry, and continue to live in lovers' eyes.

Summary & Theme

Theme of immortality
Sonnet 55, one of Shakespeare's most famous verses,

asserts the immortality of the poet's sonnets to withstand the forces of decay over time. The sonnet continues this theme from the previous sonnet, in which the poet likened himself to a distiller of truth. meaning that the young man will be remembered longer because of the poet's having written about him than if descriptions of his beauty had been chiseled in stone.

Summary
The syntax of line 13 "So, till the judgment that

yourself arise" is confusing; restated, the line says, "Until the Judgment Day when you arise." The poet assures the youth that his beauty will remain immortal as long as one single person still lives to read these sonnets, which themselves will be immortal.

Why is he saying it?

Sonnet 55 builds on Horace's theme of poetry

outlasting physical monuments to the dead. This phrase translates to, "I have built a monument more lasting than bronze / And taller than the regal peak of the pyramids... / I shall never completely die. In Horace's Ode 3.30, it is himself who will be immortalized by his poetry, but in the case of Sonnet 55, Shakespeare seeks to build a figurative monument to his beloved, the fair lord.

 http://www.shakespeare-

online.com/sonnets/55detail.html http://www.gradesaver.com/shakespearessonnets/study-guide/section34/ http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/sh akespeare-sonnets/summary-analysis/sonnet-55.html