Two Sonnets

1. Two Sonnets Sonnet 130 - My mistress' eyes William Shakespeare Untitled Poem – I Am Very Bothered Simon Armitage

2. Starter 1a • Write down four things you would expect to find in a love poem.

3. Starter 1b • Write a rhyming couplet that uses some or all of the things from your list.

4. Learning Objectives As we study these poems you will learn: • the story of the poems • More about the terms, Sonnet: Iambic Pentameter: Blank Verse: Sensory (Sound & Smell)Imagery: Tone • You will also complete some Mini Tasks, an assignment and a test on the poems.

5. Sonnet 130 ~ My mistress' eyes (1609)  William Shakespeare

6. 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. William Shakespeare

7. The Story Of The Poem MINI TASK 1 Write down what you think is unusual about this poem. Write down any individual words that strike you as odd and briefly say why you thought them unusual.

8. The Story Of The Poem What is unusual is this sonnet compares the speaker’s lady-love to a number of beautiful things, but never in his love’s favour. Her eyes are “nothing like the sun,” her lips are less red than coral; compared to white snow, her breasts are dun-coloured, and her hair is like black wires on her head. He even says that her breath “reeks”. In the final couplet, however, the poet declares that he thinks his love as rare and valuable “As any she belied with false compare”—that is, any love in which false comparisons were invoked to describe the loved one’s beauty. The final couplet makes this truly a love poem as the poet loves her despite her imperfections.

9. The Structure Of The Poem Composition • The poem is written in Sonnet form which is a love poem that has a has a regular rhyme scheme and is written in fourteen lines. • The rhyme scheme is 6 alternate rhyming couplets and a final rhyming couplet, or ABAB (x3) CC • MINI TASK 2: Count the number of syllables on each line. • What do you notice? • What is the effect of this?

10. The Structure Of The Poem Composition MINI TASK 2: The poem is written in Sonnet form which is a love poem that has a regular rhyme scheme and is written in fourteen lines. The rhyme scheme is 6 alternate rhyming couplets and a final rhyming couplet, or ABAB (x3) CC and..... Each line contains 10 syllables The effect of this is to give the poem a very even pace and tempo. This form is known as Iambic Pentameter.

11. The Structure Of The Poem Key Feature The key feature of this poem is IMAGERY. In fact the poem is a list of images used to describe the poet’s mistress. MINI TASK 3 Write down a list of the images used in the poem

12. The Structure Of The Poem Key Feature The key feature of this poem is IMAGERY. In fact the poem is a list of images used to describe the poet’s mistress. ….and all of this goes to show how the poet’s mistress does not conform to the Elizabethan ideal of beauty. • Eyes not like the sun: • Red Coral …pale lips • White snow… tannedbreasts • Black wires for hair • Red & white roses. • Pale cheeks • Perfumes (smell imagery)….smelly breath. • Corse/harsh voice (sound imagery) • A goddess • Treading (trudging) on the ground

13. Elizabethan Beauty The Elizabethan view of pure beauty was a woman with light hair and a snow white complexion complimented with red cheeks and red lips. A pale complexion could only be achieved by a woman of the upper class. White face make-up was applied to acquire the pale look. The favoured application of the upper classes was a make-up called ceruse - a mixture of white lead and vinegar. It was poisonous! Lower class women were expected to work outside and thus acquired a suntan which made their skin ‘dun’ coloured.  The pale complexion was therefore a sign of wealth and nobility - an immediate identification for a person from the upper classes. This alabaster complexion was the also required by Elizabethan men! Queen Elizabeth I helped set the trend for this notion of ideal beauty which explains the oddly white face seen in many of her portraits.

14. The Structure Of The Poem Tone, Pace & Tempo The tone of the poem seems serious and the rhyme scheme plus the use of iambic pentameter gives the poem a very even pace and tempo. Yet the poem is also humorous as the final couplet comes as a ‘surprise’ after all the disparaging comments made in the first 12 lines. In fact the whole sonnet is a parody of the conventional love sonnets written by Shakespeare's contemporaries and it is almost a direct parody of Francesco Petrarca’s(1304-1374) sonnet Gli Occhi Di Ch' Io Parlai: • 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 PARODY = a humorous or  satirical imitation of a serious piece  of literature  or writing.

15. NOTE: dun = A grayish-brown color. damask'd = Damask is expensive multi-colored woven fabric used for clothing. Damask is also the name of a rose renowned for its fine fragrance It is used in perfumery and to make rose water. The Structure Of The Poem Tone, Pace & Tempo So in Sonnet 130, there is no use of grandiose metaphor or allusion; he does not compare his love to Venus, there is no evocation to Morpheus, etc. The ordinary beauty and humanity of his lover are important to Shakespeare in this sonnet, and he deliberately uses typical love poetry metaphors against themselves. • Thus, Shakespeare is using sonnet structure itself to enhance his parody of the traditional sonnet. • But Shakespeare ends the sonnet by proclaiming his love for his mistress despite her lack of beauty, so he does finally embrace the fundamental theme in a sonnet: total and consuming love.

16. Untitled Poem – I Am Very Bothered Simon Armitage

17. I am very bothered when I think of the bad things I have done in my life. Not least that time in the chemistry lab when I held a pair of scissors by the blades and played the handles in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner; then called your name, and handed them over. Oh the unrivalled stench of branded skin as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in then couldn't shake off the two burning rings. Marked, the doctor said, for eternity. Don't believe me, please, if I say that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen, of asking you if you would marry me. Simon Armitage

18. The Story Of The Poem MINI TASK 4 Write down what you think is unusual about this poem. Write down any individual words that strike you as odd and briefly say why you thought them unusual.

19. The Story Of The Poem MINI TASK 4 Write down what you think is unusual about this poem. Write down any individual words that strike you as odd and briefly say why you thought them unusual.

20. The Story Of The Poem What is unusual about this poem is that sonnet are usually love poems, and though there is ‘love’ in this poem it is also violent. In the poem a young boy in a science lab calls to a girl he fancies and gives her a pair of scissors he has heated in a Bunsen burner. The scissors burn the girls fingers, scaring her for life. It is interesting to note that girls really identify with the female character in this poem as they have often experience forms of stupid teasing by boys who do daft things like pull their hair or steal their belongings just to get their attention. This poem then, is an extreme example of this sort of behaviour.

21. The Structure Of The Poem Composition • MINI TASK 5: • The poem is written in Sonnet form as it is a ‘love’ poem that is written in fourteen lines. But • What differences do you notice comparing this poem to Sonnet 130? • What is the effect of these differences?

22. The Structure Of The Poem Composition • MINI TASK 5: • There is no formal rhyme scheme in this poem, but there are several ‘chimes’ and internal rhymes. • when I held a pair of scissors by the blades • and played the handles • in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner; • then called your name, and handed them over. • Oh the unrivalled stench of branded skin • as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in • Don't believe me, please, if Isay • that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen,

23. The Structure Of The Poem Composition • MINI TASK 5: • What is the effect of these differences? • In Simon Armitage’s poem the rhythms is much more subtle and it reads more like prose. In fact it is very easy to re-compose the poem into a confession in three paragraphs. • I am very bothered when I think of the bad things I have done in my life. Not least that time in the chemistry lab when I held a pair of scissors by the blades and played the handles in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner; then called your name, and handed them over. • Oh the unrivalled stench of branded skin as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in, then couldn't shake off the two burning rings. • Marked, the doctor said, for eternity. • Don't believe me, please, if I say that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen, of asking you if you would marry me. • Rhythm helped by alliteration.

24. The Structure Of The Poem Composition • MINI TASK 5: • What is the effect of these differences? • The rhythm of the poem is also helped by some alliteration. • Not least that time in the chemistry lab • when I held a pair of scissors by the blades • in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner;

25. The Structure Of The Poem Key Feature Like Shakespeare's sonnet, the key feature of this poem is IMAGERY. MINI TASK 6 Write down a list of the images used in the poem From your list, find examples of imagery that are similar in both poems and identify the main difference in the use of imagery in the poems.

26. The Structure Of The Poem Key Feature • MINI TASK 6 • Write down a list of the images used in the poem • chemistry lab (visual) • held a pair of scissors by the blades (visual) • played the handles in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner; • (visual) • then called your name (sound) • handed them over. (visual) • the unrivalled stench of branded skin (smell) • as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in (visual) • then couldn't shake off the two burning rings. (visual) • Marked, the doctor said, for eternity. (visual)

27. The Structure Of The Poem Key Feature • MINI TASK 6 • From your list, find examples of imagery that are similar in both poems and identify the main difference in the use of imagery in the poems. • In Shakespeare’s poem the imagery describes a person, whereas in Armitage's poem a lot of the imagery is used to describe a place or object. Ex the chemistry lab or scissors. • But there are two examples that are closer to each other:- • then called your name / hear her speak, (sound) • the unrivalled stench of branded skin / breath that from my mistress • reeks (smell)

28. The Structure Of The Poem Tone The tone of the poem is serious and like Shakespeare's poem there is a ‘twist’ in the final couplet which overturns the meaning of the 12 lines that have gone before. MINI TASK 7. Look at the last two lines of each poem and explain the differences and similarities between them.

29. The Structure Of The Poem Tone • MINI TASK 7. • Look at the last two lines of each poem and explain the differences and similarities between them. • And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare • As any she belied with false compare. • that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen, • of asking you if you would marry me. • Shakespeare’s ‘twist’ is humorous as it is a complete surprise after he has spent the first 12 lines of the poem convincing his reader what a terrible person this lady is. The final two lines then, come as a complete surpriseand provide an uplifting end to the poem.

30. The Structure Of The Poem Tone • MINI TASK 7. • Look at the last two lines of each poem and explain the differences and similarities between them. • And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare • As any she belied with false compare. • that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen, • of asking you if you would marry me. • There is no humour in Armitage's couplet, although you could describe it as darkly ironic. Like Sonnet 130 the last two lines do come as a surprise as the reader is shocked that this act of wanton violence is born out of love. • Part of this irony is that the girl carries a ring shaped scar on her finger for ‘eternity’- a play on the gift of an eternity ring that a husband might give his wife after several years of marriage as a token of his love.

31. Assignment • Compare how William Shakespeare and Simon Armitage present unusual love sonnets in My Mistress Eyes & I Am Very Bothered. You need to discuss structure as well as meaning in your answer. • 500-700 words by Wed 14thNovember • e-mailed to timdunne53@gmail.com • If you want this PowerPoint go to www.timdunne.org  Poetry  Toolbox  Two Sonnets www.timdunne.org

32. Who are the poems writen to/for?