Shakespearean language and the sonnet form.

1. Shakespeare’s Sonnets

2. Language Evolution
Languages do not just happen; they are the result of
many hundreds and even thousands of years of
development. The English as we know it is relatively
new and is in a constant state of change. Every day
hundreds of new words enter the language and many
are dropped. The English language contains about
300,000 words but your vocabulary is about 3000 and
you get by on a daily basis with about 150. By contrast,
William Shakespeare had a vocabulary of 15,000 words
and invented many of the words and phrases that we
still use today. Just take a look on the wall…

3. Old English - 800 A.D.
• Faeder ure thu the eart on heofonum, si thin
nama gehalgod. Tobecume thin rice.
Gewurthe thin willa on eorthan swa swa on
heofonum.

4. Middle English – 1300 A.D.
• Oure fadir that art in heuenes, halwid be thi
name; thi kyngdom cumme to; be thi wille
don as in heuen and in erthe; gif to us this day
ouer breed oure substaunce; and forgeue uo
us oure dettis as we forgeue to oure
dettours......

5. Modern English – 1600s
(Shakespeare’s time)
• Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be
thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors. and lead us not
into temptation....

6. Confusing Shakespearean Words
• Thou = you
• Thee = you
• Thy = your
• Thine = your/yours
• Thyself = yourself
• Ye = y’all

7. Additional Words:
• Ere = before
• Ho = now
• Art = are
• Canst = can
• ‘tis = it is
• ‘twill = it will
• Doth = does
• E’en = even
• E’er = ever
• O’er = over
• Fie = curses

8. Shakespeare and … hip hop?
• Even though hip hop and Shakespeare are
many centuries apart, there are still some
similarities between them. Let’s discuss
thematic similarities first:
– In groups of four, select a pair of hip
hop/Shakespeare passages. Two members of your
group will perform them and the other two
members will write down the performance
choices and passage analysis on the worksheet
provided.

9. Conventions of a Sonnet
• A sonnet is a poem with the following
features:
– Lines: Fourteen lines
– Meter: Iambic pentameter
– Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDEFEFGG
• Rhyme pattern. If the lines have the same letter, then
the last words rhyme with each other (ex: 1st
and 3rd
line
rhyme – both are A; 2nd
and 4th
lines rhyme – both are B)
– Sonnets were typically love poems written from a
man to a woman expressing his feelings for her

10. Meter
• Hearing the rhythm of a poem is difficult, so
let’s try it in a song first…
• Lose yourself in the music the moment you
own it you better never let it go
• Rap has rhythm, it is just not consistent:
– And the beat goes on: da da dum da dum da da

11. Types of meter
Foot type Style Stress pattern Syllable count
Iamb Iambic Unstressed + Stressed Two
Trochee Trochaic Stressed + Unstressed Two
Spondee Spondaic Stressed + Stressed Two
Anapest Anapestic Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed Three
Dactyl Dactylic Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed Three
Amphibrach Amphibrachic Unstressed + Stressed + Unstressed Three
Pyrrhic Pyrrhic Unstressed + Unstressed Two

12. Some words even have different
meanings depending on the
emphasis of the syllables…
• Suspect vs. suspect
– Suspect = a person who might have committed a
crime
– Suspect = to view something with suspicion
• Content vs. content
– Content = things included in something
– Content = satisfied/at peace

13. Iambic = rhythm
Pentameter = syllables
• If something is in ‘pentameter’, it means that
it has five sets of two syllables (10 syllables)
• Is this pentameter?
– Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
• Is this pentameter?
– Don’t stop believing; hold on to that feeling

14. How can we tell the difference
between blank verse (iambic
pentameter) and prose in
Shakespeare’s plays?
• Just take a look at them…
• Which of the following speeches is spoken by
someone of the upper class (iambic
pentameter), and which is spoken by
someone of lower class?

15. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,--
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You Capulet; shall go along with me:
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

16. When good manners shall lie all in one or two men's
hands and they unwashed too, 'tis a foul thing.
Away with the joint-stools, remove the
court-cupboard, look to the plate. Good thou, save
me a piece of marchpane; and, as thou lovest me, let
the porter let in Susan Grindstone and Nell.
Antony, and Potpan!

17. Conventions of a Sonnet
• A sonnet is a poem with the following
features:
– Lines: Fourteen lines
– Meter: Iambic pentameter
– Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDEFEFGG
• Rhyme pattern. If the lines have the same letter, then
the last words rhyme with each other (ex: 1st
and 3rd
line
rhyme – both are A; 2nd
and 4th
lines rhyme – both are B)
– Sonnets were typically love poems written from a
man to a woman expressing his feelings for her

18. Is this a sonnet?
"Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?"
"No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren't good for a little child."
"But, mother, I won't be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free."
"No, baby, no, you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children's choir."
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.
The mother smiled to know that her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.
For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.
She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
"O, here's the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?"

19. Is this a sonnet?
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

20. Is this a sonnet?
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

21. Yep, Sonnet 55. But what on earth
is it saying??
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

22. How to paraphrase sonnets
• When dealing with Shakespeare’s language, it is a
lot to try to figure out not only what he is saying
but also trying to work through the language. So
let’s practice with some pieces that you may be
more familiar with…
• Pop Sonnets is a Tumblr that takes modern day pop
songs and comes up with a sonnet that roughly
paraphrases portions of the songs. Would you
rather hear a sonnet written by Shakespeare or one
inspired by Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, or Kesha?

24. Paraphrase – Put in your own words. Not a
summary – goes line by line.
I am an energetic traveler. I give each attractive woman
I meet an invitation to come on my boat and sit on my
lap. When traveling, countries often ask for a tax, but
your tax will be cheap because your attractive body
pays it for you. It doesn’t matter if you come from
Rome or France; I’ll speak the same language. Even
though I’ve traveled the world, I don’t speak the
languages. But I don’t need lots of words as long as you
talk dirty to me.
Jason Derulo – Talk Dirty to Me

25. Your turn! In pairs, select one of the following pop songs. I will provide you
with the pop sonnet. Read it carefully, then provide a paraphrase on a
separate sheet of paper. Please don’t write on the Pop Sonnet.
4. Ke$ha – Tik Tok
6. The Temptations – My Girl
8. Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
9. Don McLean – American Pie
10. Justin Bieber – Baby
11. Taylor Swift – Shake it Off
13. Sam Smith – Stay With Me
14. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
16. Spice Girls – Wannabe
20. Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars –
Uptown Funk
21. Eminem – Lose Yourself
22. NSYNC – Bye Bye Bye
24. The Killers – Mr. Brightside
32. Sir Mix a Lot – Baby Got Back
33. Bruno Mars – Just the Way You Are
49. Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
56. Will Smith – The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
57. Magic! – Rude
60. Ariana Grande/Iggy Azalea – Problem
61. Idina Menzel – Let it Go
64. The Chainsmokers - #SELFIE
66. Taylor Swift – We are Never Ever
Getting Back Together
71. Beyonce – Single Ladies
72. Miley Cyrus – Party in the USA
73. Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe

26. Petrarch: Typical love sonnet
The way she walked was not the way of mortals
but of angelic forms, and when she spoke
more than an earthly voice it was that sang:
a godly spirit and a living sun

27. Fidessa – Typical love sonnet
My Lady's hair is threads of beaten gold;
Her front the purest crystal eye hath seen;
Her eyes the brightest stars the heavens hold;
Her cheeks, red roses, such as seld have been;
Her pretty lips of red vermilion dye;
Her hand of ivory the purest white;
Her blush AURORA, or the morning sky.
Her breast displays two silver fountains bright;
The spheres, her voice; her grace, the Graces three;
Her body is the saint that I adore;
Her smiles and favours, sweet as honey be.
Her feet, fair THETIS praiseth evermore.

28. Sonnet 130
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.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

29. “Sonnet 18” – Your Turn! 
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

30. So now that you have paraphrased
Sonnet 18… wanna hear it rapped?
• Akala – TED talk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSbtkLA3GrY