Oh, Shakespeare!
I learned how to read his Sonnets during my Intro. to Lit. class two summers ago. To me, they are clearly his personal journal, detailing loves, fears, and dreams…all of which most of us would rather keep locked away in obscurity. But dear Shakespeare (whoever he was) applied the ink and set it forth, blazing through our hearts forever.
Here are a couple great sites that list each sonnet along with either modernized diction or analysis. These might be helpful to people who’ve tried to read and understand the verses but have hit a brick wall:
No Fear Shakespeare Sonnets
Shakespeare-Online
The following audio actually has nothing to do with the Sonnets or Shakespeare, but it has to do with me. As I studied Hamlet and the Sonnets two years ago, Tears and Rain by James Blunt played on my iTunes. In a flash, the song became a sort of Shakespeare theme song. I even re-named it to better fit the Shakespeare fever I was consumed with. I hope you will listen to the song and imagine a tormented, loving, fearful artist who has much more to offer the world than Romeo and Juliet.
Sonnet 61
| Is it thy will thy image should keep open | |
| My heavy eyelids to the weary night? | |
| Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken, | |
| While shadows like to thee do mock my sight? | |
| Is it thy spirit that thou send’st from thee | |
| So far from home into my deeds to pry, | |
| To find out shames and idle hours in me, | |
| The scope and tenor of thy jealousy? | |
| O no; thy love, though much, is not so great. | |
| It is my love that keeps mine eye awake, | |
| Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat, | |
| To play the watchman ever for thy sake. | |
| For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhére, | |
| From me far off, with others all too near. |
1 response so far ↓
mary a. kaufman // May 6, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Loved it. Because old age has robbed me of some hearing ability. . . I have a bit of a problem with a vowel or two. . . and the speaker connected to my computer is not of the highest quality, I sat here, allowing my imagination full sway. I can’t help it: I haven’t the slightest idea why a song children learn in Sunday School came to mind, but at this moment, I’m thinking. . . sung, of course. . . What a friend we have in Blogdom.
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