Feel free to read as many of the sonnets as you care to do, but at least (please) read the following: 1, 2, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 29, 30, 44, 45, 50, 51, 55, 60, 64, 71, 73, 76, 77, 87, 92, 106, 110, 116, 127, 129, 130, 132, 135, 138, 144, 143, 146, 157, 151.
Oct 02
A brief moment in love
Here is a brief synopsis of the “plot” behind 10 consecutive sonnets in Astrophel & Stella;
In sonnet 69 Stella has made some conditional statement of love to Astrophel; in sonnet 70, he hopes for a more positive outcome to his trial, and as the sonnet closes asks for silence instead of more writing (note the teasing “this / bliss” final rhyme pair); in sonnet 71 Astrophel proclaims the union of virtue and beauty in Stella, yet is nagged by desire; in sonnet 72 desire must give way to virtue, but how can it?; the second song follows and it is in this song that we read a narrative of Astrophel kissing Stella in her sleep; in sonnet 73, Astrophel makes his excuses to Stella for that kiss, but is even more turned on by her anger; in sonnet 74, the effects of the kiss are likened to the famous inspiration of poets, Aganippe’s well; in sonnet 75 Astrophel steps back and admires all that Edward IV chanced for love; in sonnets 76 and 77 Astrophel’s verse swells into robust and happy hexameters; sonnet 78: jealousy.
Oct 01
Sidney’s Coat of arms
Sidney’s coat of arms, left, with Frances Walsingham’s, right. Sidney and Walsingham married in 1583.
Sep 26
Reading Astrophel and Stella
There are 110 sonnets in Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella. We are going to read them all (skipping the songs at the end of our edition). That means by Friday I would like you to read through sonnet 35. By next Monday try to reach sonnet 80; and for next Wednesday finish up the sequence.
Sep 24
Mr. Soul & Mr. Spenser
Neil Young recorded “Mr. Soul” with Buffalo Springfield in 1967. Here are two versions:
* * *
Visions of Bellay (published in 1591); these are updated versions of Spenser’s 1569 Sonets.
Visions of Petrarch (published in 1591); these are updated versions of Spenser’s 1569 Epigrams.
On Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560)
On Petrarch (1304-1374)
Sep 17
Noli me tangere
Here’s a translation for Noli me tangere: “don’t touch me” or “touch me not.”
Sep 14
Fussell on meter
“Because it inhabits the physical form of the very words themselves, meter is the most fundamental technique of order available to the poet. The other poetic techniques of order — rhyme, line division, stanzaic form, and over-all-structure — are all projections and magnifications of the kind of formalizing repetition which meter embodies. They are meter writ large.” (from Poetic Meter & Poetic Form)
Sep 13
READ Skelton for Friday
Dan was right to be asking “What about Friday.” After most of you left I took a better look at the syllabus and find we are to begin reading “John Skelton.”
Do that. Following the links on the syllabus. If you want to print out the pages, you will probably have to download the pdf version onto your computer, then print the relevant pages. Find the Pdf version listed here:
http://archive.org/details/poeticalworksjo04skelgoog
Sorry about the confusion.
Sep 07
On My First Son
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon ‘scaped world’s and flesh’s rage,
And if no other misery, yet age!
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.
For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such
As what he loves may never like too much.
Ben Jonson