Shakespeare Sonnets and Soliloquies: Coaching Students

Resource Materials For

Exploring Shakespeare in Performance

On Quoting Shakespeare

Bernard Levin Wrote: If you cannot understand my argument, and declare ``It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is father to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare!

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Shakespearean Code Challenge your students to decipher the following speech from TWELFTH NIGHT (Act II, Scene ii). Use the "Shakespearean Code" and the list of "poetic devices." Afterward, students can compare their findings!

VIOLA. I left no ring with her: what means this lady? Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her! She made good view of me; indeed, so much, That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue, For she did speak in starts distractedly. She loves me, sure; the cunning of her passion Invites me in this churlish messenger. None of my lord's ring! why, he sent her none. I am the man: if it be so, as 'tis, Poor lady, she were better love a dream. Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness, Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. How easy is it for the proper-false In women's waxen hearts to set their forms! Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we! For such as we are made of, such we be.

How will this fadge? my master loves her dearly; And I, poor monster, fond as much on him; And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me. What will become of this? As I am man, My state is desperate for my master's love; As I am woman,--now alas the day!-- What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! O time! thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me to untie! GUIDE TO SHAKESPEARES CODE (Be sure to mark your findings.) 1. Get a good dictionary. 2. Number each of the lines in the speech. (10) 3. Softly whisper the speech - run the words through the filter of your lips and tongue. 4. Look for instances of Shakespeares use of poetic devices (see below) 5. Look up all the unusual words in the dictionary.

POETIC DEVICES (clever uses of word sound, rhythm and meanings) 1. Alliteration: resemblance in consonant sound, such as Fortune forbid 2. Rhyme: especially internal rhymes, such as "we be." 3. Metaphor: objects as symbols (such as untangle/knot) 4. Antithesis: setting one idea against another (As I am man/woman)

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Now then, have at it and remember: Shakespeare wrote for actors. Assume that every word and mark is there for a reason.

ACTOR REPORT We've just run our speech through the rehearsal hall, and this is what our actors have discovered: There are 208 words and 25 lines. There are 49 words that use either a short or long o sound. And there are 16 words beginning with W. Viola does not realize Olivias love for Cesario until the ninth line of this speech. She continues to emphasize the illusion of her disguise and laments her femininity, her true nature, as wickedness comparing Olivias thriftless love for Orsino to her own feelings for the Duke. (Elaborate and come up with more ideas during rehearsal) Shakespeare gives the actor lots of ideas and possibilities in the dialogue. Remember that there were very few stage directions and that the actors only received their own lines in single sheets of paper called sides. This means the bulk of their information about who they were playing and what the character was feeling and doing was in the lines themselves. Think of the poetry as a secret code about character, action and emotion. That might help you to discover even more about what the words do and how their sound affects what choices the actor makes. Let's move on and see what kind of sense we can make of the whole thing. First of all, we want to know what kind of woman Viola is. Is she smart, stupid, friendly, sensitive? Next, we need to know what she is doing in the quoted speech. Is she speaking carefully and calmly, or is ranting and raving? Are some possible messages Shakespeare has offered in the poetry. Come up with a possible diagnosis using evidence from the text to support your diagnosis.

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POETRY SUMMARY

Poetry or Verse

That category of literature characterized by highly imaginative language selected and arranged to elicit a specific emotional response. Poets use meaning, sound, and rhythm to incorporate a concentrated depiction of experience. Usually, poetry appears on the

page with a jagged right margin, and was conceived by the author in line form.

What is blank verse? Blank verse: verse which satisfies BOTH condition (i) and (ii): (i): It does not rhyme. It if rhymes, it's not blank verse. (ii): All the lines have the same number of feet.

Is blank verse iambic pentameter? Blank verse may be in the form of iambic pentameter, and usually is. However, blank verse does not have to be iambic pentameter. Other metrical patterns are possible.

Does Shakespeare use blank verse? In his plays he often does but not always. Remember that if the verse rhymes then it is not blank verse. Shakespeare's sonnets have rhyme schemes so they are not blank verse.

What is iambic pentameter?

Iambic Pentameter is the verse most frequently used in Shakespeares plays. It consists of five iambic feet. Each iambic foot is made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm of an iambic pentameter line would therefore go: De DUM de DUM de DUM de DUM de DUM This is a very easy, conversational rhythm and resembles the beating of our hearts. Its the kind of rhythm we regularly use in everyday speech, for example: I REA lly WANT to HAVE a CUP of TEA is a perfect iambic line. An example of an iambic line from Romeo and Juliet would be: But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? (II.ii.2) Scanned and marked: - / - / - / - / - / But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? (II.ii.2) Shakespeare regularly breaks the rhythm of iambic pentameter and when he does it is usually a clue; it gives us additional information about the emotional state of the character who is speaking the line or the situation at the time. Being a very skilled poet, Shakespeare uses many other metrical Rhythms but iambic pentameter is the one he employs most often. Although strictly speaking, iambic pentameter refers to five iambs in a row (as above), in practice, poets vary the rhythm of their iambic pentameter a great deal, while maintaining the iamb as the most common foot. The first foot, on the other hand, is the most likely to change

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by the use of inversion, which reverses the order of unstressed and stressed in the foot. For example the first line of Richard III begins with an inversion: / - - / - / - / - /

Now is the winter of our discontent

As Shakespeare often does, he uses a trochaic inversion to begin the speech; otherwise, the line scans normally.

Another common departure from standard iambic pentameter is the addition of a final unstressed syllable, which creates a weak or feminine ending. One of Shakespeare's most famous lines of iambic pentameter has a weak ending:

- / - / - / - / - / -

To be or not to be that is the question

Scansion

The analysis of poetry or verse to show its metrical pattern. Scansion is the process of analyzing poetry's rhythm by looking at meter and feet. A foot is a two- or three-syllable division of stresses. Meter is the predominant rhythm of a poem based on the type and number of feet per line.

Syllables are marked either as stressed (/) or unstressed (-) depending upon the pronunciation of a given word within the line. For instance, the word "example" would scan as:

- / - ex am ple

Common Metrical Feet in English

Foot Syllables Stress Pattern

iamb 2 - /

trochee 2 / -

spondee 2 / /

pyrric 2