Monday, September 12, 2016

Rachel's Informal Research for Sonnet 116

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So I went to the upper floor of the library to look into some of Shakespeare's sonnets in between by internship shifts today, and there is so much there! I was just wandering around the Humanities Reference books when one of the workers kindly offered me help, She explained that the reference books were in that section, but that I could look at the call number of those books and go into the other section of books. I did so, and discovered a lot of books on Shakespeare.

One book, a Critical Survey of Shakespeare's Sonnets, talked about how Sonnet 116 discussed love and time and its unchanging nature. The sonnet was discussed among other critical theories, which shows the discussion around it in a scholarly aspect. I think it is easy for us to forget that there are so many choices available when it comes to interpreting our work, and that scholarly and non scholarly research can be invaluable in their own ways.

Sparknotes discusses the concept of love in sonnet 116.  The site discusses how love is always present, perfect, and unchanging. This interpretation is similar to scholarly sources, but also gives insights that are more relatable today.  This source showed the urgency and conviction in the speaker's voice.

In Sense and Sensibility, this scene has them quoting this sonnet, and sparks are flying (not really but that's what we're led to believe). https://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=26uln020c#/watch?v=du9x5TT3rDs
This video helped me to better understand the value of oral performance in context, and how people would have used these sonnets as a way to woo others.

I got on Facebook and posted a general question about what I should write a sonnet  on. While it was not focused on 116, the answers I received  dealt  with love. One comment was to write "vivid love metaphors that are uncomfortable to read." People tend to associate sonnets and Shakespeare with love, and an awkward love at that as this example taught me. It is interesting to see how people automatically characterize these sonnets.


1 comment:

  1. I think it's super interesting what you said about the people who said to write uncomfortable, vivid love metaphors. It's true that sonnets can be over the top a lot of the time (I know firsthand now from trying to write one!), and it's good to keep in mind how people characterize sonnets so we know what not to do.

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