Shakespeare Book
Shakespeare, Poetry, and the Power of Art
Poetry can have an incredibly polarizing effect: people tend to either swear by at or swear at it. What gives? Well, aside from the fact that good poetry can be dauntingly elitist while bad poetry is, as a rule, truly god-awful, art in general is a very powerful medium – and poetry is one particularly artsy and inaccessible form of art. In fact, poetry is so powerful that it can be wielded against other people. Not just in the sense of intimidating your classmates with a spiffy beret, or holding your book of Keats a foot away from your face so that everyone in the coffee shop can see how brilliant you are; we’re talking immortality, manipulation, and objectification here. Shakespeare, that means you.
Just about everybody is familiar with the opening lines of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18,” which read, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” Pretty romantic stuff. Until you read the next 14 lines. Shakespeare goes on to describe the fleetingness of natural beauty in comparison to the subject of the poem, yadda yadda yadda, and ultimately decides that death could never claim his beloved “When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.” Whaa?! Lines of what, exactly? Well, considering that this is poetry, it’s pretty safe to assume that the “eternal lines to time” in which the subject grow’st are referring to the lines of Shakespeare’s own poem. Roughly translated: “death can’t touch you so long as you’re in my poem, Sweetcheeks.” Or something to that effect. In other words, there’s nothing inherently wonderful or eternal about the beloved of this poem (whom we’ve learned absolutely nothing about, by the way); it’s merely the fact that (s)he happens to be in the poem that gives Shakespeare’s beloved any greatness.
In case he wasn’t being clear enough, Shakespeare closes the poem with: “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” Kind of presumptuous to declare that your poetry will exist “so long as men can breathe,” but that’s Shakespeare for you. If you still aren’t convinced, stop and think about the fact that “Sonnet 18” ends in the word “thee.” The significance? Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter with alternating stresses (shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY / thou ART more LOVEly AND more TEMperATE), meaning certain syllables are given importance while others are not. You might have noticed that, already in the first two lines, “I” is stressed while “thee” and “thou” are not. Who’s the subject of this poem again? In fact, “thee” and “thou” appear in the sonnet a total four times, but only one of these – the final “thee” – falls on a stressed syllable. Long story short, the person to whom “Sonnet 18” is addressed only receives any special importance at the very culmination of the poem – i.e., when Shakespeare’s mad poetry skills have had a chance to work their transformative magic. Throw all this on top of the fact that Shakespeare is writing a supposedly intimate love poem… but fully expects it to be read the whole world over for, you know, the rest of eternity, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a power trip.
Moral of the story? Skip the beret and write yourself some poetry. Ya arrogant jerk.
About the Author
Shmoop is an online study guide for English Literature, Poems and American History. It’s a perfect aid for students and teachers seeking guidance with advance study, essays and writing papers. It promises to make learning and writing more fun and relevant.
Othello – BBC Radio Shakespeare Audio Book
|
|
Shakespeare’s Love Quotations Magnet Set $15.49 These sets are intended to be pulled apart, the sheet is 7 by 11 inches and each one has quotes along a certain theme…. |
|
|
Shakespearean Naughty Mug $14.99 The Shakespearean Bawdy mug includes 50 of Shakespeare’s more colorful words and phrases, and four colored pictures. This is one dirty mug, if you know your Shakespeare. Shakespeare invented and used many expressions that many people don’t realize are…connotations. And you might never know, if we didn’t bring you this mug. So after your finished making “the beast with two backs”, have a cup of … |
|
|
Philosophers Guild Magnetic Personality You’ll think the see in Einstein’s famous equation stands for ‘cute’ when you play with this adorable finger puppet. On your finger, he’s a puppet; on your fridge, he’s a magnet; in your puppet collection he’s a genius…. |
|
|
Baby Einstein – Baby MacDonald – A Day on the Farm $19.99 The beauty of this entry in the Baby Einstein catalog is its integration of puppets, toys, and live farm footage to help babies and toddlers make the connection between their plastic play sets and stuffed animals with images of a real farm. As always, the spoken language is minimal, omitting the pesky verbs and adjectives that would confuse the very young. The 30-minute main program is divided int… |
|
|
Baby Einstein – Baby Van Gogh – World of Colors $19.99 The Baby Einstein Company’s “video board books” were designed as music-focused developmental tools to stimulate babies’ brains (prompted by research proving that exposure to classical melodies can improve verbal ability, spatial intelligence, creativity, and memory in youngsters). Now the company is expanding into other art forms, including color and art. The idea remains the same–taking bold… |
|
|
Baby Einstein – Baby Bach – Musical Adventure $7.71 Designed for infants and toddlers (1 to 36 months), Baby Bach is a nicely produced video that features recognizable, familiar toys and colorful objects, moving to the complexly beautiful music of Johann Sebastian Bach. According to the video producers, “Bach’s music has shown to enhance creativity, improve academic achievement, reduce anxiety and heighten mental awareness.” Any parent will em… |
|
|
Romeo & Juliet $2.71 Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was unique in its day for casting kids in the play’s pivotal roles of, well, kids. Seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting and 15-year-old Olivia Hussey play the titular pair, the Bard’s star-crossed lovers who defy a running feud between their families in order to be together in love. Typically played on stage and in previous film p… |
|
|
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Special Edition) $7.99 The legend of King Arthur will never be the same once the Pythons get through with it. Klutzy knights, killer rabbits, coconut-laden swallows, taunting Frenchmen and other oddities all add up to one of the funniest, most outrageous comedies ever. Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin star. 89 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby… |
|
|
Sense & Sensibility (Special Edition) $2.43 Emma Thompson scores a double bull’s-eye with this marvelous adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel. Not only does Thompson turn in a strong (and gently humorous) performance as one of the Dashwood sisters–the one with “sense”–she also wrote the witty, wise screenplay. Austen’s tale of 19th-century manners and morals provides a large cast with a feast of possibilities, notably Kate Winslet, in her pr… |
|
|
Pill Box: Shakespeare $9.45 lid says “By med’cine life may be prolonged, yet death will seize the doctor too.”… |
Tags: books, english, literature, reference, shakespeare, shakespeare books, shakespeare books list, shakespeare books online, shakespeare bookstore, shakespeare bookstore paris
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 1:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.