For Wednesday, read Sonnets 1-18 for class and we may do an in-class writing or simply discuss a few closely as a class. As you read them, consider some of the following ideas:
* Shakespeare's sonnets are in iambic pentameter, meaning 5 iambs (an iamb is an unstressed + a stressed syllable). The rhyme scheme is typically ABABCDCDEFEFGG. However, each sonnet (except one) has a concluding couplet, which often gives a little twist to the entire poem. Note some of the twists we find in the rhyming couplets.
* How do many of these poems function as a memento mori? Who does he seem to be addressing this message to? Himself? A patron? A fellow actor? A loved one?
* How do one or more of these poems seem to be addressed to the ideal gentleman and the themes of Castiglione's courtier? How does Shakespeare draw his images and metaphors from the pursuits and interests of a typical 'well rounded' gentleman?
* Do these poems seem intimate or staged? That is, do they seem to be a performance for an audience, or do they feel like they're written for the poet himself? Is he, like a Renaissance gentleman himself, putting on a show of wit, learning, and ease through his poetry? Or is he simply speaking spontaneously of matters close to his heart? Do some seem more intimate than others?
* Sonnet 18 is one of the most famous and is the most immediately striking (and some say, accomplished) of the first 18. Why is this? What makes this poem sound a new note in the sequence?
* Do these seem to be all written to the same person? Are some written to different audiences? Are there any clues to hint at the intended audience?
* What narrative, if any, seems to emerge from the first 18 sonnets? Where do we see this specifically?
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