For about thirty years sonnet sequences were popular in England (1580s to the 1610s) . A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines of iambic pentameter with an elaborate rhyme scheme. The poets of these forms of poems wrote in order to express their deep human emotions. Especially, poets in Renaissance revealed the philosophy of humanism. Poets of Elizabethan time are mainly concerned with the subject of love. Thereby, they made use on metaphoric and poetic conventions which were developed by Italian poets of the fourteenth century like Petrarch or Dante. The Petrarchan, or Italian sonnet, consists of two quatrains and two tercets. To emphasize the idea of the poem, the rhyme scheme and structure work together. William Shakespeare reshaped the sonnet structure. The English, or Shakespearean sonnet, consists of three quatrains and a concluding couplet.
Shakespeare used, like Petrarch, the structure of the sonnet to explore multiple facets of a topic in short. He, despite his high status as a dramatist, attracted no attention as a sonneteer . William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford upon Avon. In 1609 he retracted from the London live in theatre back to the city of his birth. In the very same year the publisher Thomas Thorpe announced the book “Shake-Speares Sonnets Never before Imprinted”. “When [Shakespeare] published his sonnets – or allowed them to be published – in 1609, the sonnet vogue was all but over […]” . About the background and the reliability of this edition prevails disagreement. It is not resolved whether Shakespeare had wanted the publication. It is also uncertain whether the order of the sonnets is right or does it make any sense to rearrange the sequence. Even the division of the sequence into two parts – sonnet one till 126 address a young man and sonnet 127 till 154 address the Dark Lady – is questionable because many of the sonnets have no gender-markers. However, most editors accept the ordering from the 1609 edition . With 154 poems, Shakespeare wrote the longest sonnet cycle of the Elizabethan age. If we comply with the assumption of most editors, the poems one till 126 focuses a young blonde man, and the sonnets 127 till 152 are aimed at a Dark Lady who is the “conceptual antithesis of the young man” . The whole sequence ends with two rather insignificant love sonnets which have nothing to do with the previous sonnets.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Formal and substantially aspects of sonnet 127
- The first quatrain
- The second quatrain
- The third quatrain
- The couplet
- Shakespeare and Petrarch
- Shakespeare's Dark Lady
- Conclusion
Objectives and Key Themes
This preview provides a comprehensive analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 127, focusing on its formal and substantive aspects. It explores the poem's position within the larger context of Shakespeare's sonnet cycle, particularly in relation to the "Dark Lady" sequence. The analysis also delves into the sonnet's thematic concerns, examining its critique of the prevailing beauty standards of the Elizabethan era and its celebration of natural beauty.
- The sonnet's critique of artificial beauty standards
- The celebration of natural beauty, specifically the "Dark Lady's" blackness
- The impact of cosmetics on the perception of beauty
- The role of Shakespeare's sonnets in challenging traditional Petrarchan conventions
- The exploration of time and the evanescence of beauty
Chapter Summaries
Introduction
The introduction provides an overview of the sonnet sequence's popularity in Elizabethan England and highlights its focus on human emotions and the philosophy of humanism. It contrasts the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet forms, emphasizing the latter's dynamic structure and its ability to explore multiple facets of a topic concisely. The section also introduces the concept of the "Dark Lady" and the debate surrounding the authenticity and ordering of Shakespeare's sonnets.
Formal and substantially aspects of sonnet 127
This chapter delves into the formal and substantive aspects of Sonnet 127, exploring its structure, rhyme scheme, and themes. It examines the poem's programmatic nature, highlighting its challenge to the prevailing beauty standards of the Elizabethan era, specifically its celebration of the "Dark Lady's" blackness. The section also analyzes the poem's language, exploring its use of puns and imagery.
The first quatrain
The analysis of the first quatrain focuses on the poem's opening lines, which challenge the conventional ideal of blonde beauty and elevate black as a symbol of natural beauty. It explores the pun on "fair" as both blonde and beautiful, demonstrating how the poem subverts the traditional association of beauty with lightness. The section also highlights the use of paradox and symbolism in the quatrain, suggesting that the "Dark Lady's" blackness represents a mourning for the decline of true beauty.
The second quatrain
The analysis of the second quatrain examines the poem's critique of artificial beauty enhancement. It explores the concept of "fair[ing] the foul" with cosmetics, arguing that this act corrupts true beauty and creates a false standard. The section highlights the negative connotations associated with the term "bastard" and emphasizes the poem's condemnation of the unnatural manipulation of beauty.
Keywords
The main keywords and focus topics of the text include Shakespeare's sonnets, the Dark Lady, Elizabethan beauty standards, natural beauty, artificial beauty, cosmetics, Petrarchan sonnet, and the exploration of time and the evanescence of beauty.
- Quote paper
- Sarah Nitschke (Author), 2010, Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 127" and the mysterious "Dark Lady" - An Analysis, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/149148
