Shakespeare sonnets, Helen Veldar, Giacomo da Lentini
This is an essay that is interested in the analysis of Shakespeare Sonnets: Reading for a difference with regard to an article by Helen Veldar. Shakespeare sonnets are a form of writing poems that originated from Italy and its invention is credited to Giacomo da Lentini. The word sonnet actually comes from an Italian word sonneti whose meaning is ‘little song'. A well-known sonnet writer was William Shakespeare and hence the sonnets are usually identified mainly through Shakespeare's work. A sonnet writer is called a sonneteer. A Shakespearean sonnet is known to consist of fourteen lines that are composed using the iambic pentameter. This is a form of structure where five stressed syllables follow an unstressed syllable. The Shakespeare sonnets are known to follow the following rhyme scheme: a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. There have been structural changes in sonnets from the time of invention to the time of Shakespeare. In the Italian sonnets, they had a sonnet structured as 8-6 or 8-4-2 to make the fourteen lines that constitute am sonnet. Shakespeare's sonnets had a different format of 4-4-4-2. Helen Veldar in her article, Shakespeare sonnets: reading for a difference, uses examples of sonnets in order to express her views on how sonnets convey messages.
The Shakespeare sonnets were never before 1609 imprinted in any way. These were poems that were composed and written by Shakespeare. The Shakespeare sonnets are seen to revolve around the themes of love, time passage, immortality, and beauty. These are the main themes that Shakespeare handled in his sonnets. The first seventeen poems are being addressed to a youthful man who is being asked or advised to look for a bride and marry her. He is then being asked to get children so that they can help pass out his beauty and make it immortal. This will be done by passing it over to other generations that will come. All the sonnets have been differently analyzed and some have faced criticisms on how they are supposed to mean and understanding of each sonnet. The last two sonnets are making reference to cupid a Greek small love-god.
[...] This is identified in several of Shakespeare's sonnets and thus it will be good to perform an oral read for the sonnets so as to depict these styles as contained in the sonnets. Another example of this is evident in Sonnet 7. The word tha is used in every part of the structure of the sonnet is ‘look'. It has been used as look, unlook and looks. One has to be keen in analyzing to get this from the poem. [...]
[...] Why is it that the same one is repeated in lines? Shakespeare is known to have used a keyword in the lines of different parts of the sonnet repetitively. An example is in sonnet four in line 5 beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse' and in line 6 bounteous largess given thee to give?' (Shakespeare 4)The repeated sub-word is -teous. By reading this from a written document/script, it becomes difficult to rightly identify what the sonnets repeated words are by just reading. [...]
[...] Shakespeare sonnets are found to have a dialogue or monologue where the sonnet is being dedicated to another person. To understand these sonnets and to get a grasp/understanding of the emotions depicted by the sonnets, it would be preferable that the sonnets are performed as an act. In sonnet XC, it is directed to another person and it can therefore be read through acting it out. This is evident where he says ‘then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now; And do not drop in for an after-loss' (Shakespeare 90). [...]
[...] The critics say that the Shakespeare sonnets should not be viewed as nothing more but love poems. This is a point that Veldar is dissatisfied with in her article because in her view, it is not just the general meaning that one should get from the sonnets but one should try and get the deeper meaning of the writer. There is a lot of generalization that exists towards the meaning and understanding of the Shakespeare sonnets. They are generalized into various themes such as: Love, beauty, immortality and passage of time. [...]
[...] Shakespeare's sonnets had a different format of 4-4-4-2. Helen Veldar in her article, Shakespeare sonnets: reading for a difference, uses examples of sonnets in order to express her views on how sonnets convey messages. The Shakespeare sonnets were never before 1609 imprinted in any way. These were poems that were composed and written by Shakespeare. The Shakespeare sonnets are seen to revolve around the themes of love, time passage, immortality, and beauty. These are the main themes that Shakespeare handled in his sonnets. [...]
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