Sonnets pt. 1

Above is a painting that imagines Petrarch's first glimpse of Laura, the subject of his sonnets.  By the way, Petrarch, a monk, knew who Laura was but never actually met her.

Today we began our examination of sonnets with poet Linda Gregorson's history of the sonnet:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsA5xZ4V7dQ  We also did a very close examination of Sonnet 18, turning it into a prose poem and replacing its semicolons with periods.  We also listened to two different readings of the poem, one by David Tenant and the other by Tom Hiddleston:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD6Of-pwKP4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Q_Ioj6AhQ

For Friday, we will continue with sonnets by poets other than Shakespeare: Sir Thomas Wyatt's "Whoso List to Hunt" (which predates Shakespeare and may be about Anne Boleyn--Linda Gregorson mentioned it in her talk), John Donne's Holy Sonnet 14, and two modern sonnets.  One is Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for cousin vit": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51983/the-rites-for-cousin-vit.  The other is A.M. Juster's "Moscow Zoo": http://web.archive.org/web/20120419102406/http://theformalist.evansville.edu/NemerovWinners/1995.htm  This is one of his translations of Petrarch: https://web.archive.org/web/20170815005437/http://www.amjuster.net:80/blog/2015/9/18/312

I want to add a couple other translations of Petrarch.  One is from the 1800s.  "Soleasi Nel Mio Cor" http://www.sonnets.org/petrarch.htm#010  Another is more recent and is by A.S. Kline: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=3

On to the questions on Sonnet 18.

How did today's exercise help you understand Sonnet 18 a little more?

How did listening to the two readings of Sonnet 18 help you understand it a little more?

How does the poem's form (its relative brevity, meter, rhyme scheme) shape the poem?

Choose your favorite imagery from this poem.  How does it affect the poem?

Choose your favorite language from this poem.  How does it affect the poem?

Which emotions does Sonnet 18 evoke in you?  Why?

Compare/contrast Sonnet 18 with another of Shakespeare's sonnets (#20, #29, #130).  How are they similar?  How are they different?  How do they build on each other?

If Sonnet 18 is the archetypal sonnet, what does this tell us about this poetic form?

Compare/contrast Sonnet 18 to another love poem (not a sonnet).

What does Sonnet 18 tell us about the speaker?  his beloved?  their relationship?  their milieu?  Why?

How does looking at a poem's grammar help you understand it better?

Try turning another sonnet into a prose poem with more conventional punctuation.  What do you see?

Let's add a few more questions about our readings.

Compare/contrast Sonnet 18 to another sonnet by a poet other than Shakespeare.  If it is an earlier sonnet (Petrarch or Wyatt), how does Shakespeare's sonnet differ from the earlier sonnet?  how does it build on it?  If it is a later sonnet (everyone else), how does the later sonnet differ from Shakespeare's?  How does the later sonnet build on Shakespeare?

Why do you think that A.M. Juster chose to make "Moscow Zoo" a sonnet?  It's not a love poem.

In your opinion, are Petrarch's sonnets about a real woman?  Or are they about Love?  Why?

What do Petrarch's sonnets tell you about the speaker?  about Laura?  about their relationship?  about their milieu?  Why?

What does John Donne's sonnet tell you about the speaker?  about God?  about their relationship?  about their milieu?  Why?

What does Gwendolyn Brooks' sonnet tell you about the speaker?  about her cousin?  about their relationship?  about their milieu?  Why?

Have you written a sonnet before?  If so, what was it like?  Why?

Would you want to write a sonnet?  Why?  Why not?