Sonnet Text Work

Sonnet Text Work

By Larry Gleason

Sonnet XXIX -- 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,(Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

You may need several copies of the sonnet as you work so that your text

markings remain readable.

Let’s start with Sonnet 29:When in disgrace with fortune and

men's eyes,

Where to begin?Ask Questions.

You may need several copies of the sonnet as you work so that text

makings remain readable.

Quatrains and Couplet• Mark Quatrains. (3 Quatrains, 4 lines each)• Mark the Couplet. (Last 2 lines)

Are they in perfect form or against form? Note where they are against form.

Quatrains for Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,(Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;

For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Q1

Q2

Q3

Couplet

Sentences• Mark the sentences. They end where

there are periods. • Sentence=Idea. How many main

ideas? Enumerate them.• Notice how ideas are constructed

with semi-colons; colons: and commas,.

• Are there Enjambments? Mark them.

Sentences for Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;



Onesentence

Enjambments for Sonnet 29





Q1

Q2

Q3

Cou-plet

Scanning• How does it scan?• Force it into ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ (short,

long, short, long, etc,)• Is the scan regular (easy to force)? To

help it stay regular, can any words elide?• Where is it irregular (can’t be forced),

creating feminine endings, long lines, trochees, etc.)? Mark them.

Scanning for Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,*And look upon myself and curse my fate,




*a troublesome line that may defy consensus

Elision

TrocheeTrochee

Feminine endingTrochee

Feminine ending

No Elision

A Troubling Scan:

• A bastard scan.

• Choosing to force the scan so that deaf is long stressed?And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless

cries.

• The easiest rhythm: -double long stress trouble -elide heaven to heav’n-double short stress with my:

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries.

Rhyme Scheme

• What is the rhyme scheme?

• Are there visual rhymes as well as aural rhymes?

Q3EFEF

CoupletGG

Q1ABAB

Q2CDCD

Rhyme Scheme for Sonnet 29





Q1ABAB

Q2CDCD

Q3EFEF

CoupletGG

Repeated Words• What words are repeated?

• Why they have been repeated?• Make sure you include variants and root

forms.• When you finish you are likely to have

found your----

Theme(s)

THEME• Subject

• Meditation• Topic• Idea• Motif

• Subject Matter• Argument• Premise• Thesis

• Sonnet Tie

Finding our ThemeImportant Repeated Words for Sonnet 29





Q1

Q2

Q3

Couplet

These repeat too, but so what?When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself and curse my fate,




Antithesis (Compare/Contrasts)

• What words, phrases or images are put into compare/contrasts or Antithesis?

• Mark them, connect with lines.

Antithesis (Compare/Contrast) in Sonnet 29


Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy / contented least;



Compare/ Contrast:

Antithesis:

Antithesis: (Brighting day/gloomy night)

Q1

Q2

Q3

Couplet

Definitions

• Do you know all the words?

• If not look them up and get a definition.

Words to look up for Sonnet 29





Beginnings, Middles and Ends

• Can this sonnet be broken up into beginnings, middles and ends?– What is the proposed issue?– What is the debate?– What is the conclusion?

• Think bookends.





BProposal or set up

Mdebate

Econclusion

Beginnings Middles Ends for Sonnet 29

Relationships• Who is the Speaker?• Who is the Speaker speaking to?• What is the Relationship?• What’s right in the Relationship? • What’s wrong in the Relationship?• What does the Speaker hope to

accomplish? What does the Speaker need to change?

I to my love, who seems not to be here. I need to move myself to a different psychological plain (social plain to natural or

elemental plain.)





Time

•What is the time frame?

Time: A time of disgrace in the past, present and unforeseeable future, until I dream myself into a

different past to create a different present and perhaps a different future.

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,(Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;


Parentheticals• Are there ideas that contain

parenthetical thoughts (momentary digressions or explanations) other than what Shakespeare spells out (with actual parentheses) for you? Mark them.– Once marked, can you drop them out

and still make sense of the idea at hand?

Parenthetical ideas provided by Shakespeare and by my own marking.

When (in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes),I (all alone) beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven (with my bootless cries),And look upon myself and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,(Featured like him, like him with friends possessed),(Desiring this man's art and that man's scope) ,With what I most enjoy contented least;Yet in these thoughts (myself almost despising),Haply I think on thee, and then my state,(Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;


Major Tonal Shift

• Where is the major tonal shift in the sonnet?

• Mark it.

Major Tonal Shift for Sonnet 29





Q1

Q2

Q3 Major Tonal Shift

Couplet

Imagery• What kind of images are conjured?

Quoting the original text, pick out each image, then describe that same image in your own words.

• Are there lists of images? Are they cumulative—pieces that build to a bigger, more substantive whole? Are they in opposition to each other creating an internal debate?

Images for Sonnet 29





Senses within –eyes, ears, mouth: Q1, Senses looking out: Q2State- outcast state AND state of acceptanceHeaven and earth: freedom/bird/flight, dawn of new day music, love, wealth

Punning• Sonnets are witty word games. Treat

it like an acrostic or crossword puzzle, etc.

• What word games are there (punning)? Mark them.

Punning in Sonnet 29





Literary Devices• Are there lists such as Verb Lists? Noun

Lists? Other word lists? Mark them.• Are there internal vowel sounds in close

proximity to each other repeated (Assonance)?

• Are there consonant sounds in close proximity to each other repeated (Alliteration)?

• Are there words that are, through imitation of their sound, rhetorically effective? (Onomatopoeia)?





Literary Devices in Sonnet 29

Verb List 1Verb List 2

Assonance-nothing remarkable here

Alliteration 1 (l, k)Alliteration 2

(s,h)Onomatopoeia-

nothing remarkable here

Syntax

• Is there Old English, Elizabethan or difficult syntax? Mark it.

Difficult Syntax in Sonnet 29





Old English:BeweepBootlessHaplyRememb’red Thy Thee

Caesura: sĭ-zhoo’-rahWhere can we use caesuras to help us phrase things better?

Mark your caesuras. A caesura is:

• A pause in a line of verse dictated by sense or natural speech rhythm rather than by punctuation alone.

• In Latin and Greek prosody, a break in a line caused by the ending of a word within a foot, especially when this coincides with a sense division.

• Music A pause or breathing at a point of rhythmic division in a melody.

Caesuras in Sonnet 29

When //in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself //and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one //more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art //and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy //contented least;

Yet in these thoughts //myself almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,(Like to the lark //at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth) //sings hymns at heaven's gate;

For thy sweet love rememb’red //such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state //with kings.

// marks suggested caesuras, entered only where punctuation does not already exist

Q3

The Moment Before/The Moment After

• Once the sonnet has been thoroughly examined, what is the moment before (30 seconds or less prior to the first spoken word)?

• What happens after the sonnet is through (immediately after the last word)?

Making Sonnet 29 actable

• Create an event that spurs the first line: i. e., the prison doors just slammed.

• Create an event that lingers after: i.e., I curl up in a fetal position and sleep.

Your Sonnet• All of these questions and examinations

are found in one list: Sonnet Text Work.

• Before memorizing, go through the questions and work out your answers.

• Then prepare your sonnet so that you are speaking to someone. Create a scenario where your sonnet might exist including the moment before and the moment after.

Sonnet Text WorkBy Larry Gleason

(This is my moment after.Consider yourself

released.)

Documents

Sonnet Text Work