Year 9 English Sonnets and Renaissance Poetry Knowledge Book for Assessments Christmas Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School
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Year 9
English
Sonnets and Renaissance Poetry
Knowledge Book for Assessments
Christmas Term 2017-2018
Instructions: Use the support information in this booklet and your exercise books to make revision materials. Below are some more detailed explanations of how to create effective revision cards and mind maps… Revision Cards: If you are making cards put a heading for the card on one side and the information that you want to remember on the other side. Once you have read through a card, turn it over and try to remember the information from memory.
Eventually revise by just looking at the card titles and trying to recall the information without looking!
Mind-map: Make a mind-map for the topic that breaks the topic down into “spurs” and “sub-spurs” working out from
the middle. You could focus on a specific character or theme, or look at a specific Act or chapter.
1. Once you have studied the mind map put it away and try to draw it again from memory.
2. Once you have drawn all that you can take the original mind map out again and add any details that you missed out on the map
that you drew from memory.
3. Repeat this process until you can produce it perfectly from memory.
Key Skills
The assessments in English are broken into 3 and each one requires different reading and writing skills.
This unit will encompass Assessment 3 - Informal Assessment – key piece of work for last half term
Extract question comparing to text as a whole based on key character or theme - allowing texts in assessment (Based on skills
needed for Literature: Paper 1, Section A)Spellings
Every three weeks students at CNS are tested on set spellings in an attempt to improve overall
literacy. This knowledge booklet contains the spellings for this term. Please take the time to practice
these spellings at home. More marks are being awarded each year at GCSE level for literacy so this
will have a real impact on achievement. The dates shown are the Monday dates of the weeks when
the spellings will be tested. The specific day in that week will be decided by the class teacher.
Christmas Term - You will be tested on these words on the dates below
Year 9
2017/18 11/9/17 2/10/17 30/10/17 20/11/17 11/12/17
Date
greediness proficient opponent overachieve
wantonness professional opponent overexcite
Prefix / Suffix
graciousness proceed oppression oversimplify
outrageous technique research resources
FINAL CHECK ON 10
Common reference remember texture unfortunately
WORDS FROM THESE
misspelling
relief technology peaceful permanent LISTS.
laboratory hamstring axis prophet
solution shoulder tonne spiritual
Subject words
frequency gymnastic ratio miracle
Wow word! arcadian baleful bellicose biliousGlossary of Literary Terms
You should be familiar with most of these terms and be able to use them in your
discussions about English language or literature.
Make sure you note down any new terms that you come across during your study. It would be useful to
create your own glossary. One way of doing this is by buying an address book with A-Z sections, then you can
record the terms alphabetically to make referencing them easy!
Alliteration The repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the
beginning of words
Allusion A reference to another event, person, place or work of literature. The allusion is
usually implied rather than explicit
and provides another layer of meaning to what is being said
Ambiguity Use of language where the meaning is unclear or has two or more possible
meanings or interpretations. It could be created by a weakness in the writer’s
expression, but it is more likely it is a deliberate device used by the writer to
create layers of meaning
Anthropomorphism The endowment of human characteristics to something that is
not human
Assonance The repetition of similar vowel sounds
Atmosphere The prevailing mood created by a piece of writing
Colloquial Ordinary, everyday speech and language
Connotation An implication or association attached to a word or phrase. It
is suggested or felt rather than being explicit
Diction The choice of words a writer uses. Another word for “vocabulary”
Empathy A feeling on the part of the reader of sharing the particular
experience being described by the character or writer
End stopping A verse line with a pause or stop at the end of it
Enjambment A line of verse that flows on into the next line without a pause
Figurative language Language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be
taken literally
Genre A particular type of writing – eg prose, poetry, drama
Imagery The use of words to create a picture or “image” in the mind of the reader. Images
can relate to any of the senses, not just
sight
Internal rhyme Rhyming words within a line rather than at the end of lines
Irony At its simplest level, it means saying one thing while meaning another. It occurs
where a word or phrase has one surface meaning but another contradictory,
possibly opposite meaning is implied. Irony is often confused with sarcasm.
Sarcasm is spoken, relying on the tone of voice and is much more blunt
than irony
Metaphor A comparison of one thing to another to make the description more vivid.
The metaphor actually states that one thing is another.Metre The regular use of unstressed and stressed syllables in poetry
Narrative A piece of writing that tells a story
Onomatopoeia The use of words whose sounds copies the thing or process
they describe
Pathos The effect in literature which makes the reader feel sadness or pity
Personification The attribution of human feelings, emotions, or sensations to an inanimate
object. Personification is a type of metaphor where human qualities are given
to things or abstract ideas
Plot The sequence of events in a poem, play, novel or short story
that make up the main storyline
Point of View A story can be told by one of the characters or from another point of view. The
point of view can change from one part of the story to another when events are
viewed through the minds of two or more characters.
Protagonist The main character or speaker in a poem, monologue, play or
story
Pun A play on words that have similar sounds but quite different
meanings
Rhyme Corresponding sounds in words, usually at the end of each line,
but not always
Rhyme scheme The pattern of rhymes in a poem
Rhythm The ‘movement’ of the poem as created through the meter and the way that
language is stressed within the poem
Satire The highlighting or exposing of human failings or foolishness through ridiculing
them. Satire can range from being gentle
and light to extremely biting and bitter in tone
Simile The comparison of one thing to another in order to make the
description more vivid
Sonnet A fourteen-line poem, usually with 10 syllables in each line.
There are several ways in which the lines can be organised, but they often
consist of an octave and a sestet
Stanza The blocks of lines into which a poem is divided. [Sometimes these are, less
precisely, referred to as verses, which can lead
to confusion as poetry is sometimes called ‘verse’]
Structure The way a poem or play or other piece of writing has been put together
Style The individual way in which the writer has used language to
express his or her ideas
Symbol Like the use of images, symbols present things which represent something else. In
very simple terms, a red rose can be used to symbolise love; distant thunder can
symbolise approaching trouble. Symbols can be very subtle and multi-layered in
their significance
Syntax The way in which sentences are structured. Sentences can be
structured in different ways to achieve different effects
Theme The central idea or ideas that a writer explores through a textIndependent Study Guidance
Week 1 Spellings Refer to grid – learn spellings AND their
definitions for test in class
Week 2 Research Homework Expectation is one page in your own
words on your given focus:
• Women
REMEMBER the
• Entertainment
useful websites
• Health
listed on the last
• The law
page of this booklet
• Class system
if you need
• The Poets
additional support
Make sure you look at the context
information in this booklet and the
school library and useful websites listed
will provide you with plenty of
information to read and collate.
Week 3 Diary Entry Look at character and plot information
on Romeo in this booklet. Reread your
class notes from the lesson.
REMEMBER the Now write a diary entry in first person as
useful websites if you are Romeo at the end of Act 1,
listed on the last having just met Juliet at the ball. (1/2
page of this booklet page) Consider:
if you need
additional support • How would he be feeling?
• What might Romeo be thinking /
worried about?
• Who might Romeo want to talk
to?
• What might he do next?
Week 4 Spellings Refer to grid – learn spellings AND their
definitions for test in class
Week 5
Week 6Half Term / Christmas Holidays / Easter Holidays (delete accordingly)
Week 1 Spellings Refer to grid – learn spellings
AND their definitions for test
in class
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4 Spellings Refer to grid – learn spellings
AND their definitions for test
in class
Week 5
Week 6SONNET 12 by William Shakespeare Born: 23 April 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon Died: 23 April 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer's green all girded up in sheaves Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. Notes count (1): count the chimes. hideous (2): The exact meaning here is likely derived from the Old French hisde meaning dread. Thus we have a balanced antithesis in brave/day and hideous/night. prime (3): peak; also a continuation of the extended time metaphor as prime was the first hour of the day, usually 6 a.m. or the hour of sunrise (OED). sable (4): darkest brown. Note the extensive color imagery (as we also see in Sonnet 73) -- violet, sable, green, silver, white. all silver'd o'er (4): The original, Q's or siluer'd ore, was changed by Malone (ed. 1780) to all silver'd o'er, due to Malone's insistence that or was a printing mistake. However, some editors leave or, believing it refers to the heraldic color gold (see Tucker ed. 1924). Malone's simple explanation seems to make most sense, especially if we compare Hamlet: Hamlet. His beard was grizzled--no? Horatio. It was, as I have seen it in his life, A sable silver'd. (1.2.242) canopy (6): shelter. erst (6): formerly.
summer's green (7): Shakespeare here uses a literary device known as synecdoche (by which a specific part is taken for the whole); thus summer's green is the bounty of crops. girded up (7): tied up tightly (the first use of the term as such in English). And...beard (8-9): One of the most striking metaphors in the sonnets. The harvested crops, carried on the bier, wrapped tightly with protruding pale hulls, are personified as the body of an old man, carried on a cart or wagon to church, wrapped tightly in his shroud, with his protruding white beard. breed (14): children. brave (14): challenge. Structure Meaning Imagery Language Explain
SONNET 18 by William Shakespeare Born: 23 April 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon Died: 23 April 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon 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 ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Notes temperate (1): i.e., evenly-tempered; not overcome by passion. the eye of heaven (5): i.e., the sun. every fair from fair sometime declines (7): i.e., the beauty (fair) of everything beautiful (fair) will fade (declines). Compare to Sonnet 116: "rosy lips and cheeks/Within his bending sickle's compass come." nature's changing course (8): i.e., the natural changes age brings.
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
By William Shakespeare
Born: 23 April 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon
Died: 23 April 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
Sonnet 116 was first published in 1609 and is one of the most famous sonnets in
the world. It is about everlasting love and is widely known for its idealistic vision
of a loving relationship.
The poem begins by stating that no one should stand in the way of true love.
Shakespeare says that love is constant, and unchanging through any difficulties.
In line six, love is compared to the north star and Shakespeare says that love will
not fade with time but will last forever. The words "Love alters not with his brief
hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom," mean that love is
timeless.
In the final two lines, Shakespeare says that if there is no such thing as true love,
then he has never written a word and nobody has ever experienced it. However,
because the poem exists, Shakespeare is saying so does true love.SONNET 130 by William Shakespeare Born: 23 April 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon Died: 23 April 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon 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. Notes dun (3): i.e., a dull brownish gray. roses damasked, red and white (5): This line is possibly an allusion to the rose known as the York and Lancaster variety, which the House of Tudor adopted as its symbol after the War of the Roses. The York and Lancaster rose is red and white streaked, symbolic of the union of the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York. Compare The Taming of the Shrew: "Such war of white and red within her cheeks!" (4.5.32). Shakespeare mentions the damask rose often in his plays. Compare also Twelfth Night: She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek. (2.4.118) than the breath...reeks (8): i.e., than in the breath that comes out of (reeks from) my mistress. As the whole sonnet is a parody of the conventional love sonnets written by Shakespeare's contemporaries, one should think of the most common meaning of reeks, i.e., stinks. Shakespeare uses reeks often in his serious work, which illustrates the modern meaning of the word was common. Compare Macbeth: Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds Or memorise another Golgotha, I cannot tell. (1.2.44) rare (13): special. she (14): woman.
belied (14): misrepresented.
with false compare (14): i.e., by unbelievable, ridiculous comparisons
Sonnet by John Clare
Born: 13 July 1793, Helpston
Died: 20 May 1864, St Andrew's Healthcare
I love to see the summer beaming forth
And white wool sack clouds sailing to the north
I love to see the wild flowers come again
And mare blobs stain with gold the meadow drain
And water lillies whiten on the floods
Where reed clumps rustle like a wind shook wood
Where from her hiding place the Moor Hen pushes
And seeks her flag nest floating in bull rushesI like the willow leaning half way o'er The clear deep lake to stand upon its shore I love the hay grass when the flower head swings To summer winds and insects happy wings That sport about the meadow the bright day And see bright beetles in the clear lake play Vocabulary Words Description Mare blobs (line 4) March marigolds meadow drain (line a ditch or dyke to allow excess water to drain off the 4) meadow flag nest (line 8) nest made of wild iris leaves
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 - 1861 How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death
Remember By Christina Rossetti
Born: 5 December 1830, London
Died: 29 December 1894, Torrington Square
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.Holy Sonnets: Batter my heart, three-person'd God
By John Donne
Born: 22 January 1572, London
Died: 31 March 1631, London
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Form and structure Petrarchan sonnet, iambic pentameter
Key themes Love, fear, religion, death, power, sin
Brief summary An appeal to God to force himself into his life, through a serious
of conceits that are shocking and violent in nature.
Lexical fields Sexual ("heart", "love", "chaste", "ravish"), violence ("Batter",
"knock", "o'erthrow", "break", "burn", "enthral"), military
("viceroy", "defend", "captiv'd", "enemy", "imprison"), marriage
("betroth'd", "Divorce"), holy ("three-person'd", "God"), power
("force", "usurp'd", "weak", "break", "free")
Human recognition Triplet of conceits, holy trinity converted into human trinity
behind religious (craftsman, soldier, lover)
allusions
Immediacy and agony Present tense, imperatives and violent, active verbs ("Batter",
"knock"), alliterative plosives and syndetic listing ("break, blow,
burn and make me new")
Passionate appeal "Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you / As yet but knock,
(lines 1-2) breathe, shine, and seek to mend" (syndetic listing = devotion,
tripling "three-person's" = allusion to God, imperative "Batter" =
panic, pronoun "you" = unworthiness or distance)
Military conceit (lines "I, like an usurp'd town, to another due, / Labour to admit you, but
5-6) O, to no end;" (interjection "but O" = anguish, extended metaphor
"town" = passivity and acceptance)Devotion (lines 9-10) "Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, / But am
betroth'd unto your enemy." (modal verb "would" = fear of
failure, conjunction "But" = regret, lexis choice "enemy" =
warlike and hatred opposition)
Submissiveness (lines Take me to you, imprison me, for I / Except you enthral me, never
12-13) shall be free," (imperatives "Take" = overwhelming desire,
enjambment = energy, pronoun "you = distance or unworthiness
Title Imperative
Shocking imagery
Context - Devotion to religion as Dean of St Pauls
- Apostasy (Catholic - Protestant)
- Controversy surrounding marriage to Anne Moore - seen as
morally questionable
- The Holy Trinity: Christians believe in a triune God, who has
three persons but is somehow essentially one in being. These
persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost - form the Holy
Trinity.
Form and Structure Petrarchan Sonnet divided into octave and sestet (volta).
Final rhyming couplet of "free"/"me" indicates element of
Shakespearean reinforced by Iambic Pentameter.
- Has no resolution, however.
Themes Constant friction between sacred and profane
Batter my heart, three 'Batter my heart'
person'd God; for you - Metaphysical imperative arresting opening
As yet but knock, - Violent active verb
breathe, shine, and - Starts with a stressed syllable instead of an unstressed (as is the
seek to mend; norm in iambic pentameter). Immediately, the violence desired is
That I may rise and displayed.
stand, o'erthrow me, - 'my' - first person possessive pronoun; personal appeal/struggle
and bend
Your force to break, 'three person'd God'
blow, burn, and make - Allusion to the Holy Trinity
me new.
'for you'
- Formal address
ENJAMBMENT for
COMPLEXITY
'knock, breath, shine'
- Asyndetic listing
- Strength of feeling
- Plosives (knock and seek)
GOD AS A CARPENTER: CONCEIT: He is responsible for
creating man, therefore must have the power to mend him also
'Seek to mend'
- Wishes for God to act forcefully, in order to mend him
'That I may rise and stand ... and bend your force to break .... and
make me new'
-Polysyndetic list with extended metaphor of military and siegecontrasts
- Modal auxiliary verb 'may' uncertainty: will god be up for the
challenge, is he irreparable or just not ready to give himself
wholly to the strength of faith?
'break, blow, burn'
- Tripling, mirrors trinity
-Alliterative plosives
- Emphatic and violent
I, like an usurp'd GOD AS A SOLDIER
town, to another due, 'I'
Labour to admit you, - Personal pronoun, reminder of the personal feelings evoked in
but O, to no end; the poems
Reason, your viceroy
in me, me should 'Like an usurp'd town'
defend, - Simile to describe his feelings toward God, unwilling to let God
But is captiv'd, and in
proves weak or - OR has been invaded by the devil and needs God to cleanse him
untrue. of his sinful deeds, God has thus far been unsuccessful
'Labour'
- Verb suggestive of struggle, cannot let God in, a foreign invader
'But O, to no end;'
- Capitalised interjection
- Frustration, inability to commit to God's will
- Melodramatic
- Caesura for emphasis, lamenting
'viceroy'
-DENOTATION of the word is 'one who is appointed to rule a
country'
- CONNOTATIONS of the word are those of overthrow, Donne
wishes to relinquish control and responsibility for his faith, in
effect he is asking God to make the difficult decisions for him as
he wishes to be subjugated.
'me, me'
- Repetition of personal pronoun
- Foreground self as personal subject
'should defend'
- Modal auxiliary verb, cannot find the source of his inability to
give himself to faith
'But is captiv'd'
- Present tense; immediacy and relevance which transcends the
time in which it was written
- Distancing himself from responsibility for his feelings
'Weak or untrue'
- His reason has been compromised by satan
- Weak as it allows him to give in to sin
- Untrue as he's being allowed to doubt God's powerYet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But I am betroth'd unto your enemy.
Divorce me untie, or break that knot again;
Take me to you, imprison me, for I
Yet dearly I love you, VOLTA
and would be loved God as the rapist: the ultimate contradiction: takes human ecstasy and
fain, carnal desire, using it to address his longing for religious order
But I am betroth'd unto
your enemy. 'Yet dearly I love you'
Divorce me untie, or - Formal
break that knot again; - Direct address
Take me to you, - Pre-modification = strength of feeling
imprison me, for I - Verb: the physical as opposed to abstract
'would be loved fain'
- Future aspect 'would', not yet happening, something is in the way of
their physical union
'but am bethro'd unto your enemy'
- Speaker identifies as a bride: helpless and emasculated
- Allusion to satan
- Without God's intervention his soul will belong to the devil
'Divorce me untie ... take me to you, imprison me'
-Lexical field of force and violence: tripling. Only violent deeds will set
him free
-He wishes to be set free but then bound again, to stop him from
straying back to the devil?
Except you enthral me, COMPLEX SENTENCE
never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except 'Except you enthral me, never shall be free'
you ravish me. - Paradox, will not be free until he is god's slave
God must sin in order to stop him from sinning; perhaps wishes to
diminish God unto a more human level
'Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me'
- Paradox
- Noun 'chaste' wishes to reclaim innocence
- Ravish, connotations of rape
- Excitement equal to sex without having sex/ sinning. The main source
of his sin being through adultery
- Perhaps he feels like an adulterer himself concerning his apostasy
Context Probably most famous physical poets, highly intellectual and
philosophical, ingenious conceits and use of wit. Poetry concerns
abstract thoughts on existence, truth and role of God
Content Written after asked to be an Anglican priest. Expresses inner
desperation and mental turmoil - wants to let God into life but
feels he is too weak (can't refrain from sex), God needs to be able
to satisfy him mentally as much as he can be physically -
shocking content for time and present!Audience Audience of friends as controversial - not likely to have been read
during sermon
Purpose
Pleading to God for a violent overmastering (overcome, conquer
him) - to show faith can be painful
Form /Structure Loose iambic pentameter and Petrarchan sonnet, enjambment in
first sentence makes it complex reflecting the complex nature of
the argument
Lexis / Imagery
Lexical set of violence - violent and powerful verbs to portray
God as conqueror. Juxtaposition of Donne being imprisoned to
God can make him free
Plosive alliteration + tripling = harsh feelings
PhonologyAmoretti and Epithalamion
Sonnet XXIV. When I behold that beauty’s wonderment
Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)
WHEN I behold that beauty’s wonderment,
And rare perfection of each goodly part;
Of nature’s skill the only complement;
I honour and admire the Maker’s art.
But when I feel the bitter, baleful smart, 5
Which her fair eyes unwares do work in me,
That death out of their shiny beams do dart;
I think that I a new Pandora see,
Whom all the Gods in council did agree
Into this sinful world from heaven to send; 10
That she to wicked men a scourge should be,
For all their faults with which they did offend.
But, since ye are my scourge, I will entreat,
That for my faults ye will me gently beat.Astrophil and Stella 2: Not at first sight, nor with a dribbèd shot
By Sir Philip Sidney
Born: 30 November 1554, Penshurst
Died: 17 October 1586, Zutphen, Netherlands
Not at first sight, nor with a dribbèd shot,
Love gave the wound which while I breathe will bleed:
But known worth did in mine of time proceed,
Till by degrees it had full conquest got.
I saw, and liked; I liked, but lovèd not;
I loved, but straight did not what love decreed:
At length to love’s decrees I, forced, agreed,
Yet with repining at so partial lot.
Now even that footstep of lost liberty
Is gone, and now like slave-born Muscovite
I call it praise to suffer tyranny;
And now employ the remnant of my wit
To make myself believe that all is well,
While with a feeling skill I paint my hell.
S
M
I
L
EAstrophil and Stella - Sonnet 4 by Sir Philip Sidney Born : 30 November 1554, Penshurst Died: 17 October 1586, Zutphen, Netherlands rtue, alas, now let me take some rest. Thou sett'st a 'bate between my will and wit: If vain love have my simple soul oppressed, Leave what thou lik'st not, deal not thou with it. Thy sceptre use in some old Cato 's breast; Churches or schools are for thy seat more fit. I do confess, pardon a fault confessed, My mouth too tender is for thy hard bit. But if that needs thou wilt usurping be The little reason that is left in me, And still th'effect of thy persuasions prove: I swear my heart such one shall show to thee, That shrines in flesh so true a deity, That, Virtue, thou thyself shalt be in love. S M I L E
Gli Occhi Di Ch’ Lo Parlai By Francesco Petrarch > (1304–1374)
Those eyes, ‘neath which my passionate rapture rose,
The arms, hands, feet, the beauty that erewhile
Could my own soul from its own self beguile,
And in a separate world of dreams enclose,
The hair’s bright tresses, full of golden glows,
And the soft lightning of the angelic smile
That changed this earth to some celestial isle,
Are now but dust, poor dust, that nothing knows.
And yet I live! Myself I grieve and scorn,
Left dark without the light I loved in vain,
Adrift in tempest on a bark forlorn ;
Dead is the source of all my amorous strain,
Dry is the channel of my thoughts outworn,
And my sad harp can sound but notes of pain.
Analysis:
This poem is a sonnet/ sonnet peterarch. If you're writing an Italian
sonnet, your first line will rhyme with the fourth, fifth, and eighth lines
(ABBAABBA). In your Italian sonnet, there should be a shift after eight lines,
where you begin to think of the subject differently. By the time you get to the
end, the writer and the reader should have discovered something new about
the subject or should see it in a different light.
The person or speaker of the poem is Francesco Peterarch, he is writing to
the woman he fell in love with. The first stanza Francesco is how his love
grew for her, and with her physical features. How he would day dream about
her, tricking himself that she could love him back. He did 11 syllables in each
line and that's why he used words like: ‘neath - beneath, erewhile-
meanwhile. That way they could fit in the number of syllables.
The second stanza is describing the woman the guy fell in love with. He
gives her a angelic figure, saying: And the soft lightning of the angelic
smile. Also how she was so perfect she made this world as a celestial or
"heaven" type place. But by the last sentence in
He describes the woman is so beautiful, and seems to be very attracted to
her. And that he tried to charm her but it was no use. Also he seems
depressed , that it is amazing how he can live without her. He Loved her,
knowing it was no use she could not love him. The last 4 sentences he
describes how he is worn out, depressed, can’t love no one else but her, and
is living miserable without her. Again he fell in love with someone that could
never love him back.
Francis Petrarch to be able to express grief over the death of "Laura," an
unidentified woman who became his ideal of love. There is still an echo of theshift in tone in lines 8-9. Usually about love, sonnets often are written about
beauty but also about the effects of time and mortality. The sonnet form (from
the Italian sonneto , "little song") was set well enough to be defined as Italian
poets were writing them: 14 lines are divided into an 8-line problem statement
that is resolved in the last 6 lines. The Petrarchan Sonnet . The Petrarchan
Sonnet or Italian Sonnet has a characteristic split into two parts, the first
eight lines form the octave and the last six lines for the sestet. The rhyme
pattern of the octave is usually abbaabba, while that of the sestet varies from
the following three: cdcdcd or cdedce or cddcdd. Petrarch developed this
sonnet type in order to have a problem or question in the octave and a
solution in the sestet. The octave and sestet may be used for a number of
other ways too, to display a point and then a counterpoint or to display two
sides to the same story.
CHARACTER WHO ARE THEY? ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
…
!
CHARACTER WHO ARE THEY? ADDITIONAL
INFORMATIONMERCUTIO
CHARACTER WHO ARE THEY? ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
CAPULETCHARACTER WHO ARE THEY? ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
!Themes:
POEM Key Love Conflict Fate Death Honour /
Quotations Family
Petrarch –
Gli occhi di
ch’ lo parlai
si
caldamente
SONNET 12
SONNET 18
SONNET 116
SONNET 130
Sonnet 43
Remember
Sonnet 24
From
Astrophil and
Stella
collection
Sonnet 2
From
Astrophil and
Stella
collection
Sonnet 4John Donne I love you Batter weak
sonnet 14
O’erthrow
burn
John Clare
sonnet
Renaissance Women
The women of the Renaissance, like women of the Middle Ages, were denied all political
rights and considered legally subject to their husbands. Women of all classes were expected
to perform the duties of housewife. Peasant women worked in the field alongside their
husbands and ran the home. The wives of middle class shop owners and merchants often
helped run their husbands' businesses as well. Even women of the highest class, though
attended by servants, most often engaged in the tasks of the household, sewing, cooking,
and entertaining, among others. Women who did not marry were not permitted to live
independently. Instead, they lived in the households of their male relatives or, more often,
joined a convent.
A few wealthy women of the time were able to break the mold of subjugation to achieve at
the least fame, if not independence. Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI,
was one such woman. As Pope, Alexander VI attempted to use Lucrezia as a pawn in his
game of political power. To further his political ambitions, he arranged her marriage to
Giovanni Sforza of Milan when she was thirteen, in 1493. Four years later, when he no
longer needed Milan's political support to as great a degree, he annulled the marriage after
spreading false charges of Sforza's impotence. Alexander VI then married Lucrezia to the
illegitimate son of the King of Naples. The Borgia legend stipulates that Cesare Borgia,
Lucrezia's older brother, murdered Lucrezia's son produced by this marriage. In 1502, at theage of 22, Lucrezia was again divorced and remarried, this time to the duke of Ferrara,
Alfonso d'Este. She remained in Ferrara until her death in 1519, where she became a
devoted wife and mother, an influence in Ferrara politics and social life, and a noted patron
of the arts.
Glossary
Convent – a Christian community of nuns.
Subjugation – being under control or oppression
Pawn – a small chess piece
Patron – a supporter
Impotence - an inability to conceive children
1. Read through paragraph two, list four things you learn about Lucrezia Borgia.
2. What are your impressions of Renaissance women?
The bubonic plague
In 1348 the bubonic plague ravaged Europe. In Italy an estimated one-third of the population died from the
disease. The plague sparked a cycle of famine and epidemic that lasted through the end of the century. It
contributed to social instability that led to one hundred years of unending warfare and continual upheaval
among Italy's citizens. Overcrowding in cities such as Venice, whose population by 1422 approached 200,000,
led to fierce competition for few natural resources, further igniting the turmoil that already raged because of
political and religious differences. The effects of all this turmoil are significant factors in the play Romeo and
Juliet.
Boethius
In the sixth century an imprisoned Roman statesman named Boethius wrote Consolatione Philosophiae (The
Consolation of Philosophy), a work in which he attempted, in part, to explain why tragedy is part of life. He
proposed that life is governed by both God and Fortune, with Fortune serving as a sort of agent carrying out
God's master plan for the universe. He further asserted that good and bad Fortune occur randomly and that:
You are wrong if think that Fortune has
changed toward you. This is her nature, the way she always
behaves. She is changeable. . . .
Boethius was imprisoned and later executed because he fell out of favor with the government. The Consolation
of Philosophy, however, was the most popular and influential literary work of the Dark Ages and regained
prominence in the fourteenth century when it was translated by Geoffrey Chaucer. Boethius's concepts of
God, Fate, and Fortune seemed to shed light on the plague and the terrible wars that were destroying
hundreds of thousands of innocent lives; he even went so far as to claim that misfortune was a greater teacher
than good fortune.
In fourteenth-century Italy, just as in the Elizabethan Age and later, people sought to understand the extent to
which human beings are in control of their lives. Romeo and Juliet reflects fourteenth-century notions of God
and Fortune as figures that work together to control the fate of human beings.
AstrologyAstrology was an influential part of Italian society as well. In the 1300s many people believed that the positions and aspects of heavenly bodies such as stars influenced the course of human events. The concept of astrology was seen as supporting Boethius's philosophy. Virtually every noble family in Italy had horoscopes drawn for their children upon birth, and most government leaders employed court astrologers to advise them on important issues of state. The newly developing science of astronomy was still closely linked to astrology and further indicated a close relationship between the stars and planets and events on earth. Many people believed that the conjunction of certain planets gave rise to different religions, and most believed that the stars dictated the outcome of wars. Throughout Romeo and Juliet, references are made to supernatural forces at work, and suggestions are continually put forward that Fate is inextricably linked to the stars. Premonitions abound in the play, and there is evidence of widespread belief—as there was generally during that historical period—in unseen forces that control the characters' destinies. At the play's outset we are told that the lovers are "star-crossed," and soon Juliet foresees Romeo's death: O God, I have an ill-divining soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails, or thou lookest pale. (Romeo and Juliet, 4.5.54) Sources The story of Romeo and Juliet is based on a long line of tragedies, beginning with Ephesiaca by Xenophon, written in the second century A.D. In that version the lovers are called Anthia and Habrocomes; the plot is fundamentally the same as that of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but with one crucial difference: the lovers are reunited in the end. The tragic ending and the familial rivalry were introduced by Masuccio Salernitano in Cinquante Novelle, written in 1476. Luigi da Porto retold the story in 1530, set it in Verona, and named the lovers Romeo and Giulietta. He based the family conflict on a well-known feud between the Capelletti family of the Guelfs and the Montecchi family of the Ghibellines. Though all of these authors and several others wrote versions of the Romeo and Juliet story, the only source Shakespeare appears to have used is Arthur Brooke's The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet. Written in 1562, the narrative poem was the first English translation of the story. As was common practice for writers in the Elizabethan Age, Shakespeare began with Brooke's model but enhanced it, creating an original work of his own. His version—the first that was produced as a stage play—makes significant modifications to Brooke's poem. Shakespeare condensed the time-frame of the story from nine months to four days; expanded the roles of several characters, including Mercutio, Paris, and Tybalt; added several minor characters, including Samson, Balthasar, Gregory, and Potpan; killed off Paris; anglicized some of the characters' names; and employed a variety of literary styles, including the sonnet form and blank and rhyming verse—a significant change from Brooke's use of "Poulter's Measure" (alternating lines of twelve and fourteen syllables). Shakespeare's play more fully develops all of the characters and enhances their personality traits. For example, the Nurse in Shakespeare's version is bawdier than her counterpart in Brooke's tale, while Mercutio is more cunningly combative, witty, and mercurial. Hardly mentioned in Brooke's poem, Mercutio becomes a central and pivotal character in Shakespeare's play. In Shakespeare's more conversational version, Juliet's father becomes a full-bodied, frustrated father who tries to understand his teenage daughter but is exasperated nonetheless. The influence of Petrarch
Written between 1594 and 1596, Romeo and Juliet was one of Shakespeare's early tragedies. Its style is more closely linked to his romantic comedies, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, than to his dark tragedies, such as Othello or Hamlet. The play's lyric style reflects the influence of the Italian poet Petrarch, who wrote his love sonnets during the fourteenth century. Petrarch did not invent the form, but he made it famous. Using his verse as a model but modifying the structure, Shakespeare wrote his own collection of sonnets in the early 1590s and incorporated the style into Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare was influenced by Petrarch in content as well as form. In Romeo and Juliet he echoes Petrarch's lament over the violence and tragedy so prevalent in both fourteenth-century Italy and Elizabethan England. Just as Petrarch decried "the mortal wounds" inflicted on his country by constant civil war, Shakespeare's Friar Laurence observes how war devastates all concerned. Useful Websites for research and revision: https://www.bl.uk/discovering-literature https://www.rsc.org.uk/ And don’t forget you have GOOGLE at your fingertips and the school or public library is also a great resource to help you find out more about your topic or consolidate your learning!
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