For Monday: Shakespeare's Sonnets, Nos.1-20

For Monday's class, read the first 20 sonnets from Shakespeare's sequence. As we'll discuss, they collectively tell a loose story with initially two, and later three main characters (and there are some background characters as well). You don't have to read the Sonnets for the story, but it makes them more interesting. For this first assignment, read through them slowly (they'll take some getting used to) and remember all the ideas we've discussed about poetry, metaphor, and poetics in Chapters 4 and 5. 

A Shakespearean sonnet follows a very strict formal scheme: 

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

The sonnets are always in iambic pentameter, which means 10 syllables with five unaccented and accented syllables. For example, in Sonnet 1:

from FAIR-est CREA-tures WE des-IRE in-CREASE (always starts with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one, etc.) 

The concluding couplet (GG) usually places a twist on the meaning of the entire poem, either affirming it, or lightly contradicting it, or giving us a surprising reveal. Try to think about how the couplet responds to the poem in each one. 

Answer TWO of the following questions for TWO of the Sonnets. So yes, you'll answer 4 questions this time, but the catch is each set of questions will cover only one Sonnet. So for example, you could answers Questions 1 and 3 for Sonnet 14, and 2 and 3 for Sonnet 20. This is a rare time I'll make you answer 4 questions, but some of the questions will have shortish answers, so don't fear. 

ANSWER TWO OF THE FOLLOWING FOR TWO DIFFERENT SONNETS:

Q1: How does Shakespeare used a cliched metaphor or sentiment in this sonnet in a new light? In other words, how does he make us see or experience it differently, even though the overall idea is pretty common?

Q2: Discuss a line that has very unusual syntax (sentence/grammatical structure). What do you think it literally means, and why do you think he writes it this way?

Q3: Which poem really seems to reveal the identity of the narrator of the poem? Why is this? What 'clues' are in the poem itself? 

Q4: Discuss a concluding couplet that seems to change the meaning of the preceding lines? How does it do this?