For Monday: Shakespeare, The Sonnets, Part 2

 

For Monday, please read the following Sonnets:

·      23-25

·      29-31

·      33-35

·      40-42

Answer two of the following:

Q1: In many of the Sonnets, Shakespeare seems to elaborate on the same idea in pairs or throughout several Sonnets. Discuss how one of the groups above seems to do this? What does he most develop: the situation? The metaphor? the approach? the tone/attitude? Be specific so we can see how they're related, and if possible, what one of them develops (is the second harsher than the first, or vice versa?)

Q2: Many of the early sonnets seem to express a philia, or sincere     friendship between the poet and the young man (as in Sonnet 1). Do you detect a change in the Sonnets as they hit the 20's? What specifically seems to change, and where might we sense an element of eros (romantic love)? Do you think the poet was addressing them to a different audience? Clues?

Q3: Reading between the lines of these poems, how does the poet reveal something about his personal life or class/station? What is his relationship to the young man (or whomever he's writing to)? Are they of the same age? Class? Profession? How can we tell?

Q4: Many of these poems are defined by their complaints: the poet seems to have a lot of grievances against the young man, and has trouble hiding his feelings. Reading between the lines, what does the young man seem to have done to the poet, or what 'crimes' has he committed? Do these threaten the relationship they have together, or is it more born out of jealousy or paranoia?