McDougal Littell - British Literature (2) 301 - 600.pdf - Antologie i opracowania - Patrusiak

A scene from Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 movie Ran, the story of King Lear set in feudal Japan

The Play’s the Thing

Shakespeare’s plays have proven to have enormous staying power. They are still

performed on stage all over the world as well as on ﬁ lm, with new movie versions

coming out on a regular basis. Writers in all genres have used Shakespeare’s plots

as inspiration, transplanting King Lear to an Iowa cornﬁ eld or feudal Japan, and

Romeo and Juliet to New York City streets or a Southern California shopping mall.

ONLINE RESEARCH With a partner, ﬁ nd a recent book or movie based on one of

Shakespeare’s plays. What changes make the story more relevant to today’s

concerns? What timeless issues remain?

Utopia and Dystopia

Since Sir Thomas More published Utopia in 1516, many other writers

have tried to create their own vision of the ideal society, such as one

run by women (as in Herland ) or by the environmentally friendly

(as in Ecotopia ). Even more popular today are “dystopian” books and

movies, nightmarish futuristic visions of the world gone bad (think

1984 and The Matrix ).

UICKWRITE Describe your own utopian or dystopian vision. What

would have to change in our society to make your utopia possible—

or to make sure your dystopia doesn’t come true?

legacy 301

301

Literary

Analysis

Workshop

The Sonnet Form

How do you convey love for a person? For centuries, people have searched for just

the right words to express how much they love someone, how long they have loved

someone, or how uniquely they love someone. For many, poetry has been the

vehicle for conveying love. Every form of poem has been used to this end, but none

more so than the sonnet.

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Origins of the Sonnet

In 13th-century Italy, poets

introduced a poetic form called the

sonnet, an Italian word meaning

“little song.” The sonnet is a 14-

line lyric poem with a complicated

rhyme scheme and a defined

structure. Because of the technical

skill required to write a sonnet,

the form has challenged poets for

centuries. The great Italian poet

Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374)

perfected the Italian sonnet, which

is often called the Petrarchan sonnet

in his honor. Petrarch felt that the

sonnet, with its brevity and musical rhymes, was a perfect medium for the

expression of emotion, especially love. Although Italian sonneteers did not

restrict themselves to love as a subject, Petrarch wrote over 300 sonnets detailing

his devotion to a beautiful but unobtainable woman whom he called Laura.

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (1595),

Nicholas Hilliard.

The English Sonnet

The English sonnet began with another lovelorn poet, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–

1542). In the 1530 s , Wyatt translated some of Petrarch’s love sonnets and wrote

a few of his own in a slight modification of the Italian form. Another English

poet who deserves credit for popularizing the sonnet in England is Henry

Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547). Building on Wyatt’s modifications to the

form, Surrey changed the rhyme scheme of the sonnet to make it more suitable

to the English language. Surrey’s innovations distinguished the English sonnet

from the Italian sonnet, and eventually became known as the Shakespearean

sonnet because of Shakespeare’s mastery of the form.

By the time Shakespeare’s sonnets were published in 1609, the conventions

of love sonnets had been firmly established. Surrey’s rhyme scheme allowed

Shakespeare more freedom in his versification, and he used this freedom to

expand on the typical sonnet subject matter. Instead of limiting himself to the

subject of love, he introduced deep philosophical issues and perplexing ironies.

302 unit 2 : the english renaissance

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Sonnet Structure

The Petrarchan form has a two-part structure.

characteristics

of a sonnet

• The octave (the first 8 lines), usually rhyming abbaabba, establishes the

speaker’s situation.

Length: 14 lines

Meter: iambic pentameter—

lines containing five metrical

units, each consisting of an

unstressed syllable followed

by a stressed syllable

( )

• The sestet (the last 6 lines), usually with the rhyme scheme cdcdcd or

cdecde, resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the

speaker’s situation.

The Petrarchan sonnet has been called organic in its unity because the

octave and sestet fit together naturally. Unity is also produced by the

rhyme scheme, which involves only four or five different rhyming sounds.

Structure and rhyme scheme:

a strict pattern; the three

most common are known as

Petrarchan, Shakespearean,

or Spenserian.

The Shakespearean form also has 14 lines but is structured differently.

• Three quatrains (stanzas of 4 lines) are followed by a rhyming couplet

(2 lines).

Subject: a focus on personal

feelings and thoughts that

are lyrical in nature

• The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

• The first quatrain introduces a situation, which is explored in the next

two quatrains. The third quatrain (or sometimes the final couplet) usually

includes a turn, or shift in thought. The couplet resolves the situation.

The time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west;

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed whereon it must expire,

Consumed with that which it was nourished by.

This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

—

“Sonnet 73”

Close Read

Explain the situation

developed and explored

in the three quatrains.

How is it resolved in

the couplet?

Notice that each quatrain elaborates on a particular image: autumn in the

first quatrain, twilight in the second, and the embers of a fire in the third.

The final couplet is a concise statement that pulls the sonnet together.

Think of the closing couplet in a Shakespearean sonnet as a “punch line”

that gives meaning to the whole.

literary analysis workshop 303

William Shakespeare,

Pastoral Poems and Sonnets

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The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Poem by Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe

1564–1593

Christopher Marlowe was the first great

English playwright. In his brief career,

he transformed theater by showing the

potential power and beauty of blank verse

dialogue.

Rise to Fame The son of a poor

shoemaker, Marlowe attended Cambridge

University on a scholarship. By age 23,

he was the best-known playwright in

England. His most famous play, Dr.

Faustus, is about a scholar who sells his

soul to the devil in return for knowledge,

power, and pleasure. Marlowe also

distinguished himself as a poet; his poem

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

was so popular that it inspired responses in

verse, including Raleigh’s “The Nymph’s

Reply to the Shepherd.” The two poems

present sharply contrasting views on love.

Freethinker . . . and Criminal? Marlowe was

a freethinker who questioned established

authority and religious teaching, which

gained him enemies in Elizabethan England.

He was accused of being an atheist, a spy,

a counterfeiter, a traitor, and a murderer.

Although he spent time in prison, he was

never convicted of any crime. He died from

a stab wound in a tavern brawl at age 29.

Some biographers speculate that he was

murdered for political reasons.

notable quote

“Who ever loved, that loved

not at first sight?”

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd

Poem by Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh

1552?–1618

Like his friend Christopher Marlowe, Sir

Walter Raleigh met a violent end. He

was beheaded by an axe, which he called

“sharp medicine.” A soldier, explorer,

and writer who enjoyed wealth and power

under Queen Elizabeth I, Raleigh was

imprisoned and executed by her successor,

King James I.

The

Losing It All When the queen found out

that Raleigh had secretly married without

her permission, she imprisoned him

and his wife in the Tower of London.

Raleigh bought his way out of prison and

subsequently led several expeditions to

the New World. But the queen’s death in

1603 sealed his fate. King James distrusted

Raleigh, who was imprisoned for 13 years

on a charge of treason. The king released

him to lead a gold-finding expedition to

South America. But after that expedition

ended in failure, Raleigh was executed.

notable quote

“This is sharp medicine …

that will cure all my diseases.”

For more on Christopher Marlowe

and Sir Walter Raleigh, visit the

Literature Center at ClassZone.com.

304

ueen’s Favorite According to

legend, Raleigh attracted Elizabeth’s

attention by taking off an expensive cloak

and spreading it over the ground so she

would not have to walk through mud.

Raleigh became the queen’s favorite,

gaining a mansion and a monopoly on

licensing wine. She also made him a knight

and captain of her guard.

304

poetic form: pastoral

A pastoral is a poem that presents shepherds in idealized rural

settings. Renaissance poets like Marlowe and Raleigh used the

pastoral form to express their feelings and thoughts about love

and other subjects. Shepherds in pastorals tend to use courtly

speech. The poems usually have metrical patterns and rhyme

schemes that help give them a musical or songlike quality.

The imagery derives from commonplace country settings, as

the following lines suggest:

Explore the

Key Idea

Is passion

overrated?

KEY IDEA Throughout the ages, writers

have composed poems and songs

describing the ardor of new love. But

have people placed too much emphasis

on passion in romantic love? Are other

aspects of love—such as friendship,

respect, and trust—more important?

QUICKWRITE Make a list of qualities

that you think are important in a

romantic relationship. Rank the items,

and then write a paragraph explaining

the reasons for your ranking.

And we will sit upon the rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks.

As you read these poems, look for details of pastoral life and

for the use of nature imagery to convey emotions and ideas.

reading skill: compare speakers

The speaker in a poem is the voice that addresses the reader,

much like the narrator in a work of fiction. Poets use the

speakers they create to express ideas or tell a story from

a specific point of view. The speaker and the poet are not

necessarily identical, even when the words I and me are used.

The speakers in the following poems—the shepherd and

the nymph—express very different attitudes about the topic

of love. To identify the differences, consider

• whom the speaker is addressing

• the speaker’s choice of words

• evidence of the speaker’s attitude toward the poem’s subject

As you read both poems, use a chart like the one shown to

make notes on the speakers’ differing attitudes toward love.

Look for specific words and phrases that indicate their feelings.

Shepherd’s Line

Nymph’s Reply

“I will make thee beds of roses”

“flowers do fade”

305

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McDougal Littell - British Literature (2) 301 - 600.pdf

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