Book #24: The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

I am going to tell you something shocking. You ready for it?...I am not a poetry person. I am just like my students. When I had to read poetry for school, I always dreaded it. It wasn’t because I didn’t understand it or it is too difficult to figure out. No, it was because I preferred to get lost in a story and become invested in characters. Poems are typically short and to the point and overly dramatic. I preferred and still prefer to get lost in a story instead.

            It wasn’t until college that I earned a deeper appreciation for poetry. When you spend several hours discussing the same twenty lines, you can’t help but appreciate the effort that

went into creating those twenty lines. BUT, you can’t make me determine the scansion (scansion is the rhythm of a poem) of a poem ever again. That is the most vile thing you can make an English major do. It is like forcing the words into a math problem and they just won't fit and the thought of doing that again makes my stomach squirm.

            I love Shakespeare, but I dislike poetry. So you can imagine my conflicted feelings when it came time read Shakespeare’s sonnets. What is a sonnet you may ask? According to poetryarchive.org, “an English sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameter that has one of two regular rhyme schemes.” The form of a sonnet does not just apply to Shakespeare; Petrarch, Dante, and John Donne used them too. Sonnets, at least Shakespeare’s, mainly focus on love, beauty, and mortality.

            I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t particularly enjoy reading the sonnets. I appreciate them from a literary standpoint, but, man, are they boring to read, especially when you read all 154 at once. The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man. It is unclear who this young man is; whether he is just a friend or a secret lover. Some claim that the young man could be Shakespeare’s rival Christopher Marlowe. One of Shakespeare’s most famous

sonnets, Sonnet 18, contains the famous line “shall I compare thee to a summer day.” Sounds romantic, right? Like it could be written to a pretty lady? Wrong. This sonnet was written towards the young man. Some of these poems sound extremely romantic while others seem to be yielding advice. Deciphering Shakespeare’s sonnets is like figuring out who Taylor Swift is singing about. I’m not bashing Taylor Swift here. I’m actually defending her. Artists have been writing, singing, and painting about the important people in their life for a long time. Taylor Swift just gets a lot of crap for it because she is a successful woman in the time of social media.

            The second set of sonnets, 127-152, is written to a “Dark Lady” mistress. These poems focus on sexual love in which there are mixed emotions. Shakespeare discusses how this woman is irresistible and his dream woman, but she also disgusts him. I have an issue with this because it implies that if a woman is sexual than she is also dirty. It is a double standard because the opposite is never thought of in relation to men. Granted, these poems were written in the 1500s where women did not have as many rights, but these double standards are still evident today. It’s sad when you find flaws in one of your favorite authors, but even Shakespeare is not perfect.

            The last two sonnets (153-154) are translations of Greek epigrams; another piece of evidence that Shakespeare did not originate many of his stories.

Other Thoughts

- Paris quotes a sonnet as an insult/threat to Rory. I love literary insults!!! Lorelai also quizzes Rory on facts about the Sonnets for her Shakespeare exam. Poor Rory, I’m sure this would be one hell of an exam (not like she had a chance to take it).

- The sonnets have a reputation for being quite romantic. However, I find them depressing. Many of them have sad undertones of darkness. The “Dark Mistress” for instance is seen as a villain, beauty is seen as fading, and time is an enemy of love. Not the kind of stuff I’d want read at my wedding.

Next Time: We will get a break from Shakespeare. I find it best if Shakespeare is read in moderation. I am currently reading selections from several authors from the same time period: Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, and John Webster. I am revisiting my old Norton Anthology of English Literature for this and I AM LOVING IT!

Pictures

Book Cover:http://www.loyalbooks.com/image/detail/Shakespeare-s-Sonnets.jpg
Book Cover 2: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ca/64/77/ca6477537a23337d5bb3eb93652fad9c--shakespeare-sonnets-midcentury-books.jpg

Book #23: The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare

More Shakespeare! Yay! And I am not being sarcastic. I actually really enjoyed reading this play and it may be one of my favorite selections I have read thus far in the challenge. I think I enjoy Shakespeare’s history plays more than his comedies. For some reason, they are easier for me to understand. It is usually the opposite for people. Leave it to me, to actually ENJOY Shakespeare’s more difficult plays. Don’t get me started on Hamlet.

            The Tragedy of Richard III (I know it says tragedy, but it is really labeled a history) is The Comedy of Errors (see last post) and then is asked about the date of Richard III (1592 just FYI). The date seems to slip by her.

referenced in episode four while Rory is cramming for her English exam on Shakespeare. First, she answers a question on

            Richard III chronicles Richard’s rise to power and his short reign as king. Richard is the last Plantagenet king and does not represent the line (which descends from the House of York) well. Richard was heavily involved in the War of the Roses which is too complicated to get into here. I am first to admit that I am not very knowledgeable in Medieval British history; however, it does interest me. I was pleasantly surprised, though, that I was familiar with the context of Richard the III. I recently read the first in Philippa Gregory’s Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, The Lady of the Rivers. This novel focuses on Elizabeth Woodville’s (the prominent female character in Richard III) mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, and the beginning of the War of the Roses. I was unnaturally excited that I recognized some of the figures while reading Richard III. Maybe it is because of those connections that I enjoyed this play so much.

            If you are not familiar with the history of Richard III, just know that he is pretty much the epitome of evil. Richard desperately wants to be king, but he is not exactly likable or attractive or in direct line to the throne. So what does he do? He kills anyone who poses a threat to him no matter how minuscule they are. Men, women, children…the body count is high. Richard is considered a “vice” character meaning he is purely evil without any redeeming qualities. We are well versed with the idea of the antihero in today’s stories. Even if a character is considered Dexter for example. Dexter may be a murderer, but he is an oddly charming guy and you don’t want him to get caught by the police. Richard, though, is evil through and through. He is not a realistic character in this way.

“evil,” there is some good qualities evident in them. Just look at

            While the play Richard III is quite complex, the character of Richard is not. He may be a good oratory, but this is because Shakespeare puts those words in his mouth. Shakespeare makes all of his characters an expert of word play. In the real world, people are not this way. We have multiple levels and different shades that make us who we are. It is easy to write someone off as one way because that is what we are presented with, but we have to remember there are different perspectives.

            There is no doubt that Richard III actually did some atrocious things such as killing Elizabeth Woodville’s two young sons. However, it is also important to note that Queen Elizabeth I, who commissioned this play to be written, was a descendent of King Henry VII. King Henry VII was the king who overthrew Richard III. Obviously, Shakespeare wasn’t going to write Richard as a man with redeeming qualities.

 

I think Richard III looks an awful like Orlando Bloom in this
depiction. 

           “Now is the winder of our discontent.” These words hold a lot of meaning to me right now because it is really f-ing cold out right now, excuse my language. I know Shakespeare means this figuratively and is referring to the political climate of England in 1471. But if you’ve been to the east coast in the last few weeks, you know how cold it has been! And I am not being a baby! All joking aside, Shakespeare uses numerous metaphors throughout his plays. In this one, he often uses word play to refer to Richard’s physical deformities and the often changing political alliances. This is why Shakespeare is so interesting to me; every word he writes is deliberate and has meaning on multiple levels. I would have hated to be dating him back in the day.

Other Thoughts

- Reading vs. Watching: I never realized how many different ways you could interpret Shakespeare’s plays until I went to England and went to several performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Their performance of Hamlet, in particular, opened my eyes. I always think of literature and writing from the perspective of the writer. Why did they choose those words? What are their intentions with this character? I never really thought of how an actor can change how I could see a story. I have not seen a Richard III performance, but I can imagine that Richard is a meaty character to play.

- This is Shakespeare’s second longest play, Hamlet being the first. I liked this a lot better than The Comedy Errors, which was his shortest play. Funny how that worked out.

- Richard III is the final play in Shakespeare’s tetralogy. The first three Henry VI plays came before it. I have not read any of those, but we all know that I will read them someday.

- Shakespeare is not one to shy away from writing gruesome scenes for his actors to portray (he made a character eat a pie made up of the dead bodies of her sons in Titus Andronicus). However, in Richard III, most of the deaths happen offstage. Maybe this is because Shakespeare wanted the focus to be on the words and not the blood. Maybe it was to try something different since he just wrote a really gruesome play. Maybe he just wanted to try something new. An author does everything deliberately and Shakespeare must have chosen to exclude these action packed scenes for a reason.

-I recently watched the Netflix show The Crown and now seem to be extra curious about the British monarchy past and present. I don't know if it is the accent or what, but I could just watch it all day. 

- My goal this year is to do one post a week. I’ll try my best to stay on top of my writing. Please feel free to yell at me if I start to slack.

Happy New Year!

Xoxo

Leigh

Up Next: Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Pictures:

Book Cover: https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328043960l/42058.jpg

Movie Still: http://queenanneboleyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SirLarry_2336388b.jpg

Painting: https://www.mcgoodwin.net/pages/images/hogarthrichard3.jpg

Book #22: The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

You can’t be an English teacher without some experience with Shakespeare. No doubt we have all read him…or the Spark Notes version of Willy. I’m not stupid, I know a decent amount of students end up reading Spark Notes instead of the actual plays, but a teacher can dream!

            In episode four, Rory is studying for an important English test on Shakespeare. I’m goingThe Comedy of Errors, which also happens to be the first play Shakespeare wrote. Lorelai has Rory recall the date that the play was written (1590) and the date that it was published (1623); however, Rory has trouble remembering the latter. Lorelai, though, has a rule that any date within a hundred years is close enough. My history teacher friends would say otherwise…

to breeze past the subject of Lorelai dating Rory’s English teacher and just focus on the task at hand. Several Shakespeare texts are mentioned in this episode. The first is

            I am fairly well versed in Shakespeare, but I definitely would not say I am an expert. I own a Riverside Shakespeare Complete Works and have spent a couple of weeks studying at Stratford-upon-Avon, but there is so much more that I want to know. Many people groan at the thought of reading Shakespeare because the language is difficult to understand. That is precisely why I enjoy reading Shakespeare! I enjoy the challenge. I find it rewarding to read something that takes me a little bit of time to decipher. It is fun to pick apart the language and discover the double meanings at play. No matter how many times you read or see a Shakespeare play, there is always something new to uncover.

            The Comedy of Errors is a new play for me. I have read several of Shakespeare’s comedies (As You Like It, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) throughout my education, but never this one. Perhaps this is because in comparison to Shakespeare’s other comedies, The Comedy of Errors falls a bit short. Don’t get me wrong, it is still Shakespeare so therefore it is still infinitely better than a lot of literature. But it can be argued that Shakespeare plays with similar themes and motifs better in other plays. This comedy is often defined as a farce, a type of comedy that resorts to cheap slap-stick humor and crude jokes. The characters are archetypes without much development. With so many more well developed characters and clever jokes in other plays, The Comedy of Errors just doesn’t compare.

            The Comedy of Errors focuses on two sets of twins who are torn apart from their siblings when they are babies. Sounds confusing, right? It gets more confusing when it is revealed that the twins have the same name. There is Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse. Each Antipholus brother has a slave by the name of Dromio so there is also a Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse. This made it confusing to read and the narrative difficult to follow. However, it was necessary that the twins had the same name because it lead to the majority of the comedic situations. Personally, I found the comedy in this play frustrating because you can see what is going to happen before it does. It is like an episode of I Love Lucy. The situation is over exaggerated and repeats itself through the play. Each character is aware that they have a twin so why don't they realize what is going on sooner? How many times do the twins have to As You Like it and Twelfth Night. Shakespeare also didn't have to spend thirty lines comparing the size of a woman’s butt to different countries (“She is spherical like a globe. I could find out countries in her.”). Those thirty lines could have been better spent, but I guess butt jokes just never get old. 

I always wished I could study at Luke's

be confused for them to realize "oh hey, it is my long lost brother"? I think Shakespeare handled the subject of twins much better in

            Shakespeare touches on a fear that reappears throughout literature in this play. I previously discussed the fear of the doppelgänger in relation to The Prince and the Pauper. The fear of the doppelgänger is rooted in the fear of someone not believing that you are you. What happens when even your closest family and friends don’t recognize you as you or believe that someone else is you? It makes you question your sense of self. If the people who claim to know you the best can’t recognize you or tell you apart from an imposter, what does that say about who you are? In many of his plays, Shakespeare focuses on this theme whether it is in his comedies, tragedies, or histories. 

Next on the list is one of Shakespeare’s histories (and tragedies), The Tragedy of Richard the III. This one is also new to me and I am looking forward to reading it as I am also a history buff. 

Some of my favorite lines from this play:

- “If the skin were parchment and the blows you gave were ink,

Your handwriting would tell you what I think.”

- “Every why hath a wherefore.”

- “And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.”

Pictures:

- https://ctxlivetheatre.com/static/media/uploads/posters/comedy_of_errors_opt.jpg

- http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/images/9044/normal

- https://watchusplaygames.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/luke-pie-violent-pencil-throwing-rory-gilmore-girls-deer-hunters-episode-4-season-1-screenshot.jpg