English Poetry: Learn about THE SONNET

Hello, I'm Gill from www.engvid.com and today, we're going to be looking at a poem.

So, when I did a previous poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat", people liked it and said oh,

we would like more poems.

So, this is in response to that.

And also, you may have seen my lesson on Shakespeare and Shakespearian phrases used in everyday

language that come from Shakespeare's plays.

So, this links to that as well, because we're looking at a sonnet, which is a 14-line poem

by Shakespeare today, okay?

So, just to give a little bit of the history of the sonnet, which traditionally is 14 lines

long and it's quite a strict - there are a lot of strict rules about the rhythm of it

and the rhyming at the ends of the lines.

So, it's quite a hard thing for a poet to do.

They have to work within some rules, but it can produce some very interesting poems because

of that.

So, the sonnet started in Italy in the 13th Century.

So, the first sonnets were in Italian.

And eventually, they filtered through to England and sonnets in English started appearing in

the 16th Century, okay?

And one of the sonnet writers was Shakespeare, who published a book of sonnets, over 150

sonnets, in 1609.

So, he wrote - he published 154 sonnets, all in one book.

So, that was quite a lot.

So, we're going to look at one of his sonnets today, which - it's a sort of situation in

this poem that you might recognize.

It's a very human situation, and we're going to go line by line so that you don't get distracted

by a lot of lines below.

Just one line at a time, and I'll explain it as we go along.

Okay.

So, here's the first line: Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed.

Okay?

So, "weary" means tired.

This is somebody who has been working all day and they're physically very tired.

"Toil" is another word for work, working.

It's an older word for working.

So, tired with work, "I haste" - means I hurry, get to bed quickly.

I'm so tired, I just want to get to bed is the sort of main meaning of this line.

So, "I haste me" I haste myself, I hurry to my bed.

Okay?

So, that's the first line.

Quite a recognizable situation.

So, okay.

So, here comes the next line.

Okay, so this line is: The dear repose for limbs with travel tired.

So, this is about the bed, the bed is lovely.

Oh, you can just lie down and sleep.

"Repose" means to lie down and rest, sleep.

So, you know what it's like when you're really tired, you just want to get to bed.

And when you lie down - oh, wonderful!

It's great.

So, "the dear repose", he's just lying down in bed, resting.

"For limbs", limbs are your arms and legs.

So, he's been physically working.

He's tired with working and with travelling.

So, "limbs with travel tired".

His arms and legs are tired from travelling.

He's probably been walking and maybe carrying heavy things as well.

So, he's just physically exhausted and wants to go to bed, okay?

Right.

Here comes the next line.

Okay, then there's a "but".

He's lying down, he wants to sleep, "But then begins" another kind of journey, "a journey

in my head."

So, he's tired with travel.

He's had one kind of journey today, but then he gets to bed and another journey starts

off in his head.

So, you know what it's like sometimes.

You're really, really tired.

You go to bed, but your mind is still working.

You can't stop thinking about things.

So, this is a very recognizable situation.

"But then begins a journey in my head", okay.

Here comes the next line.

Okay, so "Then begins a journey in my head/To work my mind when body's work's expired".

So, this means the journey is in his head to keep his mind busy, to work my mind, keep

my mind working, when my body's work has finished.

So, the work of his body, all the travelling and carrying, has finished for the day.

But he's gone to bed, he's resting his body, but he can't rest his mind.

He's thinking.

He can't stop thinking.

Okay.

Next line.

Okay, so - so, what is he thinking about?

So, he's saying "For then", when that happens, "my thoughts, from far where I abide".

So, he's thinking of something that's a long way away.

"Where I abide", where I am, here, where I am.

He's thinking of something or someone far away.

So, "For then my thoughts, from far where I abide", where I am.

Somebody a long way away, okay.

Here's the next line.

So, "For then my thoughts, from far where I abide/Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee".

So, he's talking to somebody whose "thee".

This is the old word for "you".

This is an old-fashioned word meaning "you".

He's thinking of somebody a long way away.

Again, a recognizable situation, okay.

So, "My thoughts intend", meaning they sort of take me, they take me on a - this is another

type of journey, a pilgrimage, usually a religious journey.

And "zealous" also is a word to do with religious - very strong belief, a zealous pilgrimage.

So, he has strong feelings about this person that he's thinking about.

They're almost like religious feelings for the person.

So, that might - "For then, my thoughts from far where I abide/Intend a zealous pilgrimage

to thee".

So, his thoughts have gone on a journey, like a religious journey to somebody who he can't

stop thinking about, okay?

So, next line.

So, while he's thinking, his thoughts take him to somewhere else where there is somebody

else who is on his mind.

And instead of falling asleep, "And keep my drooping eyelids open wide".

So, he can't even close his eyes, his eyelids that cover the eye.

They may be drooping, his eyelids are going like this, almost closing, that's to droop,

like that.

But, instead, his eyes are open wide like this, with the eyelids up, because he's still

thinking.

He can't stop thinking about this person.

So, he wants to sleep.

He's really tired physically, but his mind won't let him sleep, and he's just got his

eyes open in the darkness, thinking about this person.

You can't get to sleep doing that, okay?

So, right.

Next line, okay.

So, next line.

His eyes are wide open.

"Looking on darkness", the room is dark, his eyes are open, but he can only see darkness.

"Looking on darkness which the blind do see".

So, people who are blind, who can't see, their eyes, you know, they have that - the disability

of not being able to see.

He feels he's like a blind person.

He's lying there in the dark, but with his eyes open, not seeing anything.

Well, it's the same for everybody if you're lying in the dark, you can't see anything.

So, it's like being blind.

So, that's a strange thing to say, but this is a poem.

So, the idea of blindness has something - a deeper meaning, perhaps, in the poem, okay.

Right, so that's the first eight lines, but we've filled the board.

Before we move onto the final six lines, I just want to point out something else about

the sonnet, which is the way you get rhyming at the ends of the lines.

Okay.

So, if you look at the end of each line without worrying about "What does it mean?", you might

notice a pattern of repeated rhyming.

So, we've got "bed", "tired", "head", "expired", "abide", "thee", "wide", "see".

So, I hope you can hear.

They're sort of alternating.

"Bed, head".

"Tired", "expired".

"Abide", "wide".

"Thee", "see".

So, sonnets do this in different patterns.

They're not always exactly like this.

It depends on what the poet wants to do with it.

But we have a way of showing the rhyme scheme just by using letters.

A, B, C. So, I'll just show you how that's done, because then you can talk about the

rhyme scheme with the letters.

So, if you call the first word A, "bed", then "tired" doesn't rhyme with "bed", so you call

that B. "Head" does rhyme with "bed", so that's A again.

"Expired" rhymes with "tired", so that's B again.

"Abide", that doesn't rhyme with anything that's gone before.

So, we have to use a new letter - C. "Thee" hasn't come before either, so we need another

new letter - D. "Wide" rhymes with "abide", so we use the C again.

And then "see" rhymes with "thee", so we use the D again.

Okay?

So, this far in the sonnet, you can say the rhyme scheme is ABAB, CDCD.

Okay?

So, I'll just write that up here so we have a note of it for when we look at the rest

of the sonnet.

So, ABAB, and you can also put a comma just to show, because that is a way of - it sort

of creates a structure for the poem.

It holds certain lines together.

So, that's the effect of the rhyme scheme.

So, ABAB, CDCD, and then there will be more to come.

Okay.

So, I'm going to have to rub all of this off so that we can have the rest of the sonnet.

Okay, so we just left the poem where the person is lying in bed with his eyes wide open, looking

on the darkness, which the blind do see.

Okay.

So, then it goes on: Save that my soul's imaginary sight.

So, "save that" means except that.

So, he's saying he's like a blind person, because he can only see darkness.

But he's saying except but my soul can see something.

His soul or his heart has a picture in his - puts a picture in his head.

So, he's looking on darkness.

He's like a blind person, but his soul is showing him something.

A picture of something.

Okay?

Right.

Next line coming up.

Okay, so, "Save that my soul's imaginary sight/Presents thy shadow" meaning your shadow, the person

he's thinking of who is a long way away, it's like a shadow, like a ghost or something.

"Presents", shows your shadow, a sort of an outline of this person.

He can picture them in his head.

"Presents thy shadow to my sightless view".

So, he's looking.

He can't see anything.

His view, his looking, his eyes are sightless, meaning no sight.

He can't see anything.

But his soul is putting a picture into his head of this person's shadow, their sort of

outline, what sort of person they are.

Trying to remember what they look like, something like that.

So, his mind is working.

He's looking into the darkness, but there's a picture in his head that comes from his

soul, which is reminding him of somebody and what they look like.

Okay.

Here comes the next line.

Okay, so "Presents thy shadow", your shadow, "to my sightless view/Which", meaning the

shadow, the shadow "which like a jewel", like - something like a diamond or a precious stone,

a rich jewel, "like a jewel hung", hanging, "in ghastly night".

So, the night is dark.

"Ghastly" makes it sound like a horror film.

A ghastly - it could mean ghostly, like a ghost, which fits with the shadow.

But there's darkness here, but there's also something bright, like a jewel.

So, he's lying in the dark, but the person he's thinking of is sort of shining brightly,

like a jewel.

Like a diamond, and the fact that they're like a jewel makes them sound very important

and valuable, if you like.

A precious - somebody precious, who is very important to him.

Okay, so it's just like a jewel there in the darkness, hanging - hanging in the air.

"Hung", hanging in the night, okay?

The shadow, which is like a jewel, which is a bit of a contradiction, but anyway.

The jewel hanging there, "Makes" the "black night beauteous", is like "beautiful".

It's an older word meaning "beautiful".

So, the jewel hanging there in the darkness makes the black night beautiful.

And "her old face new".

Now, this is a difficult part.

It's difficult to understand.

Who is she?

"Black night" is a "her"?

Is like a woman?

You can have a kind of a symbolic idea that the black night is a woman with a black cloak

or something.

"Her old face", some people think that's like the moon.

The moon up in the sky has a face on it.

It's quite difficult to really understand this part.

But the jewel makes the night beautiful, and it's a kind of refreshing - bringing some

light and something new.

Making something that was old young again.

A refreshing kind of thing.

So, even though he can't sleep, he can see something positive in this.

Okay?

Okay, so we're nearly at the end of the poem.

This is the next to last line, and usually with Shakespeare, it's indented a little bit,

because the last two lines usually rhyme together.

So, they're - it's like what you might call a punchline or two punchlines which completes

the poem.

So, that's why it's indented a little bit.

So, this is a final comment that he's making on his situation, lying in bed tired, but

unable to sleep.

He saying, "Lo", meaning "here you are".

This is an old-fashioned way of saying, "this way", or "like this" "in this situation".

"Thus", like this, in this way, "by day my limbs", so in the daytime, my arms and legs.

"By night, my mind", so in the daytime, he's - his limbs are working and getting tired.

At night, his mind is working and getting tired.

Poor man.

Okay.

Let's find out what the last line's going to be.

Right, so, "Lo, thus by day my limbs, by night my mind/For thee," you, "and for myself, no

quiet find."

So, he just can't rest ever.

Working in the daytime physically.

His mind working at night.

He can't get any rest.

No quiet, meaning peace and calm and rest and sleep.

So, because of the person he's thinking of, "thee", the person he's talking to, you.

"And for myself", and they're a long way apart, he can't find any rest.

So, hardly gets any sleep.

So, there we are.

So, that's probably a recognizable situation.

It may have been written in 16 - or published in 1609, but it's a sort of universal situation

that everybody probably experiences at some time or other.

So, let's just continue, first of all, to finish the rhyme scheme.

So, we started it off on the previous board, ABAB, CDCD.

"Sight" doesn't rhyme with anything that's gone before.

I've just checked, so we've got to use a new letter here.

So, after D comes E, so we need to give that an E there.

And "view" doesn't rhyme with anything that's gone before, so that's F. Then we have "night",

which rhymes with "sight".

So, E again.

And then we have "new", which rhymes with "view".

So, that's another F. And then, we have the final two lines, which as I said, they both

rhyme together, okay.

And that's called a rhyming couplet, when two lines appear next to each other and they

rhyme.

So, "mind" doesn't rhyme with anything that's gone before, so that's got to be G. "Find"

rhymes with "mind", so that's another G.

So, we've got ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG.

So, you could say that is the rhyme scheme of this poem, of this sonnet.

It's a nice quick way of saying how it rhymes.

And that's fairly typical of Shakespeare's sonnets, to rhyme in that kind of pattern.

Okay, so I hope you found that interesting.

And we will now - I will read through the poem without stopping to explain so that you

can hear it all in one piece.

Okay, so hopefully that has introduced you to some new vocabulary as well as to the poem

and the sonnet form, if you haven't come across that before.

So now, I'll read the poem through without explanations so that can hear what it sounds

like as one piece, okay.

So, here we go.

So:

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed.

The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;

But then begins a journey in my head

To work my mind when body's work's expired:

For then my thoughts, from far where I abide,

Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,

And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,

Looking on darkness which the blind do see:

Save that my soul's imaginary sight

Presents thy shadow to my sightless view

Which like a jewel hung in ghastly night

Makes black night beauteous and her old face new

Lo, thus by day my limbs, by night my mind

For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.

Okay, so there we are.

There's a Shakespeare sonnet for you.

And if you'd like to explore Shakespeare a little more, if you haven't already seen my

lesson on Shakespeare's words in everyday language, have a look out for that one.

And we have some other poetry.

We have a haiku lesson coming up, and possibly some other poetry and there's already a lesson

on a sort of comic poem by Edward Lear called "The Owl and the Pussycat".

So, if you haven't already seen that one, do have a look, okay.

And I'm sure there'll be a quiz, so have a look for that on www.engvid.com and see you

again soon.

Bye for now.