As before, you have two options: read Sonnets 56-85 (I just re-read them, and thoroughly recommend it!) or simply read the sonnets I want to discuss for Wednesday: 61, 62, 65, 66, 71, 72, 73, 74. 79, 80, 81, 83.
Some ideas to consider:
* Note that most of the poems above are pairs, each one slightly revising or expanding upon the ideas of the previous poem. A great example of this is Sonnets 71 & 72, each one predicting the death of the poet, and his desire to be forgotten in name, but to survive in verse. What is the difference between these poems? Which one do you feel is stronger, more immediate? Which one more thoughtful? Which one will live 'longer' than the other? Or are they actually two halves of the same poem?
* Note that in many of these sonnets, the term "black" with its connotations of night, darkness, evil, and loss of sight, often becomes a positive term. Why is this? How does Shakespeare make this work within the poem itself?
* What is the effect of all the "Ands" in Sonnet 66? Clearly this is purposeful, so why create this constant refrain? How does it underline the meaning of the sonnet itself?
* In a few of these sonnets, Shakespeare moves away from immortalizing the lover/muse in his lines, but claims that he, himself, will live forever in them. Where do we see this, and is this conceited of him--a "sin of self love?"
* How does the poet critique other poets/lovers in these sonnets? What is their fault, and how does the poet beat them at their own game? Consider Sonnet 83 when he writes, "For I impair not beauty, being mute,/When others would give life a bring a tomb."
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