Sonnets by Shakespeare

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 5,6

Shakespeare's sonnets

Take a guess: A Shakespearean sonnet (poem) has how many lines?

1. 8
2. 14
3. 18
4. 24

Take a guess: Shakespeare wrote how many sonnets?

1. 49
2. 82
3. 137
4. 154

Shakespearean Sonnets

- A sonnet = 14-line poem

- Iambic Pentameter = emphasis on 2nd syllable (lettergreep)
                                             & every line has 10 syllables

   "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day"

- Sonnet originally comes from Italy

- 1609: Shakespeare's Sonnets

- contained 154 poems

Sonnet 18

- Compares the author's
   lover to a summer's day 

- While summer is lovely...

- ... his lover is more beautiful
   and kind

- A summer's day will end,
   his love for her will not

Sonnet 116

= about the extreme ideal of love:
    - never changes
    - never fades
    - outlasts death
    - has no flaws
  

Sonnet 130

- Joke on the conventions of love

- Doesn't praise his lover: 
      - not white as snow
      - no beautiful red lips
      - no golden hair

- Love doesn't need to be extreme
   to be real, against unrealistic ideals

Iambic Pentameter is...

1. Emphasis on the first syllable
2. Emphasis on the second syllable
3. Emphasis on the meaning
4. Emphasis on the amount of lines

True or false: "In Sonnet 18, a summer's day is more beautiful than Shakespeare's lover."

1. True
2. False

Shakespeare wrote how many poems?

1. 129
2. 143
3. 154
4. 167

Sonnet 130 is a joke on the ...

1. conventions of love
2. conventions of loyalty
3. conventions of devotion
4. conventions of desire

Sonnet 116 describes an extreme ideal of love, which is not mentioned about love?

1. It never changes
2. It outlasts death
3. It has no flaws
4. It is invaluable

Literature Test

- Read & study all the background information

- Check the answers to the questions & study them

- Be prepared for open, multiple choice & true/false questions