YEAR 9 POETRY Shakespeare’s sonnet XVIII Task one Help! Missing vowels! Read through the poem below and see if you can make sense of it. Don’t worry if you can’t get every word; just try to get the gist of it to start with. You might want to use the blank space to jot down possible versions of the words…

Shll cmpr th t smmr's dy? Th rt mr lvly nd mr tmprt. Rgh wnds d shk th drlng bds f My, nd smmr's ls hth ll t shrt dt. Smtm t ht th y f hvn shns, nd ftn s hs gld cmplxn dmm'd; nd vry fr frm fr smtm dclns, By chnc r ntr's chngng crs ntrmm'd; Bt thy trnl smmr shll nt fd Nr ls pssssn f tht fr th w'st; Nr shll Dth brg th wndr'st n hs shd, Whn n trnl lns t tm th grw'st: S lng s mn cn brth r ys cn s, S lng lvs ths, nd ths gvs lf t th.

Task two What do you think the poet is saying? How does the narrator feel?

Iambic pentameter? Easy! What’s an iamb? An iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Try saying ‘I am’. That’s how you pronounce it and those two words are an iamb.

What’s a pentameter? It’s a line of verse containing five iambs. ‘Penta’ means five (like a pentagon has five sides). Try saying ‘I am, I am, I am, I am, I am’. You have just said an iambic pentameter.

i

am

i

am

i

am

i

am

i

am

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

Now try it with a line or two from Shakespeare and see if it works. ‘A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!’

A

horse

a

horse

My

king-

dom

for

a

horse

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

Or ‘The course of true love never did run smooth’

The

course

of

true

love

nev-

er

did

run

smooth

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

There is a shorthand way of showing this using the symbols ˘ and /.

˘ The

/ course

˘ of

/ true

˘ love

/ nev-

˘ er

/ did

˘ run

/ smooth

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

Now try filling in the shorthand for the line ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?’



Shall

I

com

pare

thee

to

a

sum

mer’s

day?

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

unstressed

stressed

Why did Shakespeare choose this pattern?

Because it is very similar to the pattern of spoken English.

Look at this sentence. ‘I think I’d like to have a cup of tea.’ Is this the sort of thing we say every day? Write it out in the same way as the examples on the previous page. Is it an iambic pentameter? It’s not just Shakespeare who uses them. Lots of writers did – and still do. Now have a go at these examples from two more Shakespeare plays.

‘But, woe is me, you are so sick of late, So far from cheer and from your former state, That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust, Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must.’ Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 2

‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.’ ‘Sonnet 130’

Or some Tennyson:

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die.’





Write your own sonnet ‘Sonnet 116’ Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments; love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O, no, it is an ever-fixèd mark, That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand’ring bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Taking a closer look 1. What is this sonnet about? 2. Who is it from and who is it to? 3. How many lines are there in total? 4. Read this description of the structure of a sonnet then mark on the poem to show where you think these different sections are. First quatrain: an explanation of the main idea. What is the main idea? Highlight it on your copy of the poem. Second quatrain: the idea is explained further or made more complicated. How is the idea explained or complicated? Make notes on your copy. Third quatrain: volta (a twist or conflict). What is the twist or conflict? Highlight it on your copy. Couplet: summarises and leaves the reader with a conclusion. What is the concluding idea the reader is left with? 5. What do you think the words quatrain and couplet mean? 6. What is the rhyme scheme? 7. How many syllables are there in each line?

Putting it into practice Now you’ve analysed the form of a sonnet, you can have a go at writing your own! Remember to think about the format of the sonnet while you are writing.

Comparing two autumnal poems by Keats and Clare Read and annotate

Read the two poems printed below. In groups or pairs, annotate each one with notes on:

• • • • •

Who/what is being spoken to/of? What is the tone/mood of the poem? Language and literary devices Form and structure (type of poem, rhyme/rhythm, regular or irregular etc.) Themes/ideas – what is the poem about?

‘Ode to Autumn’ by John Keats 1. SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells. 2. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep, Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours. 3. Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,— While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;



Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn Among the river sallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. John Keats (1795-1821)

‘Autumn’ by John Clare I love the fitful gust that shakes The casement all the day, And from the glossy elm tree takes The faded leaves away, Twirling them by the window pane With thousand others down the lane. I love to see the shaking twig Dance till the shut of eve, The sparrow on the cottage rig, Whose chirp would make believe That Spring was just now flirting by In Summer's lap with flowers to lie. I love to see the cottage smoke Curl upwards through the trees, The pigeons nestled round the cote On November days like these; The cock upon the dunghill crowing, The mill sails on the heath a-going. The feather from the raven's breast Falls on the stubble lea, The acorns near the old crow's nest Drop pattering down the tree; The grunting pigs, that wait for all, Scramble and hurry where they fall. John Clare (1763-1864)

What are the similarities and differences in these poems? Use the statements below to help you.



•

The poet addresses autumn directly.

•

The poet personifies autumn and sees him/her sitting on the granary floor and sleeping in the fields.

•

The poem expresses the joy of windy weather.

•

The poem has a regular rhyme scheme.

•

The poem has a sense of things coming to an end and of loss. Because of this, we are reminded of death.

Write up your ideas in this table.

‘Ode to Autumn’ (Keats)





Similar elements in both poems

‘Autumn’ (Clare)