Sonnets, pt. 2

Today we focused on Petrarch's sonnets (in translation of course) and Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for Cousin Vit," a modern sonnet that follows Petrarch's format.  Among the translations were Wyatt's "Whoso List to Hunt": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45593/whoso-list-to-hunt-i-know-where-is-an-hind  We also examined a recent translation by AM Juster: https://web.archive.org/web/20170815005437/http://www.amjuster.net:80/blog/2015/9/18/312

Then we looked at 19th century editor and poet Thomas Wentworth Higginson's translation "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  Here is Kline's translation of the sonnet that Juster translated: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=312  .  Here Kline translates the same sonnet that Higginson translated: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=294

Gwendolyn Brooks' sonnet is at this site: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51983/the-rites-for-cousin-vit

On Sunday the fiction/folklore paper is due.  Monday we will be focusing on Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43768/my-last-duchess  It may help to listen to actor James Mason read this poem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbNrNE9q8g&t=2s
I am also adding a villanelle for us, Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night."  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night  Sir Anthony Hopkins reads the poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6Se1QpY5CM

Let's finish up with some questions about sonnets.

-- Could the speaker in "the rites for Cousin Vit" be a man or a woman?  Describe the speaker's relationship to Cousin Vit.  Justify your answer by referring to the poem.

-- Compare the modern sonnets (Juster and Kline's translations and Brooks' original) to the Early Modern sonnets (Shakespeare, Donne, and Wyatt's translation of Petrarch) or to the Victorian Higginson's translation.  What are their strengths?  What are their weaknesses?  How do they handle language?  How do they handle emotion?  How do they handle imagery?

-- Take a look at these scenes from The Tudors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxF4FaJnye8  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ4ArpxymWQ  How does watching these scenes help you understand "Whoso List to Hunt" more?

-- Take a look at this biography of Anne Boleyn: https://www.biography.com/people/anne-boleyn-9218155  How does reading it help you understand "Whoso List to Hunt" more?  (As it turns out, Henry VIII did *not* execute Sir Thomas Wyatt.  Although he did spend a month in the Tower of London, Wyatt later reconciled with the King and became one of his diplomats.)

-- Compare the various translations of Petrarch.  What do they tell you about Petrarch's love for Laura?  Do you believe that he loves her?  Or do you believe that she simply represents Love and Beauty?  Why?  Why not?

-- Which translation is your favorite?  Why?

-- Whose sonnets do you prefer?  Shakespeare's or Petrarch's?  Why?

-- What makes a good translation?  What makes a poor translation?  Why?

-- What do you make of the unrhymed translations?  Why?

-- Why is translation necessary?

-- What would ENGL 190 be without works in translation?  Consider that for some students all of our readings are works in a second language.

-- Should we read more works in translation?  Why?  Why not?

Here are a few questions about Browning and Thomas' poems.

-- We've moved on from the sonnet, but we are still examining rhymed poetry.  What are your impressions of rhymed poetry?  Why?

-- What are your impressions of rhymed poems that are not sonnets?  What is it like for you to read a rhymed poem that is not a sonnet?

-- How does form help you understand a poem more?

-- How does form get in your way?

-- Is the speaker in "My Last Duchess" reliable?  Why?  Why not?

-- How does the speaker seem to feel about his former wife?

-- Why does the speaker confide in his audience about his former wife?

-- What do you think that the audience does afterwards?

-- What do you think about poems where the speaker is definitely not the poet?  Why?  How do these poems fit into your idea of poetry?

-- How do the videos help you understand our readings for Monday?