Shakespeare Notes

If Shakespeare's sonnets were ever in a sequence, they are not now.  In their first publication, they had what seems to be a random order.  We don't see the progression we see in other sonnet sequences.

Sonnet 116

all the world changes but love does not.
Line 3 Love is not true if it changes when the person loved is altered or ages.
Fidelity~Good looks will fade, but love remains if it is true.
 Sonnet 130
"Blazon"-a poetic device which describes the various parts of a person.  It's especially popular in sonnet writing.  Bugs Bunny's friend Pepe le Peue is very fond of the blazon - your eyes are like limpid pools, your teeth are like pearls, etc.

Blonde hair and white skin represented purity. Her hair is described as black wires; her skin as brown.

This poem is a satire- it is making fun of the conventional poetic description of ladies.
Dark Lady- she may be his mistress, or evil. Ironic blazon - cuts her down.


 Sonnet 138~

A married man is having an affair but expects his mistress and wife not to sleep with anyone else.
He knows she is lying to him; and thinks he is naive.
Both are lying-she is when she she's telling the truth; he-when he says he believes her:

They observe the formalities of romance.  They are acting out a plot where they pretend that she is faithful & that he is young.  Their theme song should be, "Third Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvoux."

The last lines are a play on words.  "Lie" has two meanings - to have sex with, and to tell an untruth.

They cover their faults with lies to make each other happy.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is based on the poem The Tragicall historye of Romeus and Iuliet, an English version of an Italian story by Arthur Brooke.

Powerpoint on Romeo and Juliet

PDF of the Powerpoint on Romeo and Juliet