NOTE: We moved the Paper #2 assignment back a day, so it's due a week from Monday, and not on Friday (the 1st). So you can take the weekend to work on it! I'll remind you of this in class as well.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: In class on Friday, we discussed the idea that many of the sonnets are actually rough drafts, or old versions of newer sonnets, all of which appear in this collection. Do you see any poems in this sequence (95-126) that seem to be revisions of older poems? Not just variations on them, but actually a better version of an older poem? Discuss why you think so.
Q2: In David Harper's essay, "Revising Obsession in Sonnets 153 and 154," he quotes another scholar who notes that "72% of the sonnets are “entirely unmarked for gender" (120). Discuss a sonnet that could arguably have nothing to do with the story of the young man, and could easily exist on its own. What possibilities does this offer in interpreting the sonnet?
Q3: Sonnet 126 is the last poem that seems addressed solely to the young man, since Sonnet 127 is addressed to a woman for the first time. Interestingly, it's only 12 lines long, and all sonnets have 14 lines. The expected final couplet is missing, though lines 11-12 become that final couplet prematurely. The original Quarto version of 1609 placed brackets in the final lines, as if something was missing. Why do you think he ended the sonnet early? Is this poem a fragment? Were the lines lost? Were they too scandalous to print? Or was it an artistic omission? Does the poem itself give a clue?
Q4: In many of these sonnets, the poet is acknowledging his own bad behavior, betrayal, and questionable reputation. In essence, he seems to be blaming the break-up on himself? Do you think is sincere or is it another poetic ploy to win back the young man's affection? A sonnet that convinces you one way or the other?
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