Lecture on Shakespeare's Sonnets
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Happy reading!
0:00:00 Intro to Shakespeare's sonnets
00:03:10 Reading assignment
00:04:17 The art of ellipsis
00:06:40 Fair Youth/Dark Lady sequences
00:07:30 Does Shakespeare's sexuality matter?
00:08:25 When and why did Shakespeare write the sonnets?
00:11:45 Romeo and Juliet's shared sonnet
00:12:35 Structure of Shakespeare's sonnets
00:19:10 Sonnet 29 'When, in disgrace and fortune with men's eyes'
00:25:45 Ezra Pound's theory of literature
00:30:40 W.H. Auden's 2 questions when reading poetry
00:31:45 Do the sonnets have social utility?
00:34:14 The procreation sonnets (1-17)
00:34:42 Sonnet 2 'When forty winters shall besiege thy brow'
00:38:35 Sonnet 1 'From fairest creatures we desire increase'
00:41:00 Who is the speaker of the sonnets?
00:41:45 Sonnet 20 'A woman's face with nature's own hand painted'
00:46:46 Sonnet 130 'My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun'
00:49:30 Sonnet 144 'Two loves I have of comfort and despair'
00:52:52 Sonnet 86 'Was it the proud full sail of his great verse'
00:54:40 Sonnet 66 'Tir'd with all these, for restful death I cry'
01:05:21 Sonnet 121 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed'
01:12:00 Recommendations for further reading
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Podcast on Shakespeare's Sonnets: benjaminmcevoy.com/shakespear...
@csg954 Жыл бұрын
I’ve been watching a lot of your lectures since I stumbled on them via everything Jane Austen. This particular lecture (though I’m still in the middle of it) is blowing my brain apart with exhaustion, confusion, pleasure! Thank you so much for all your lectures…it’s a wonderful experience to have new doors of learning and insight open for a person 75 years of age! Deep appreciation!
@BenjaminMcEvoy Жыл бұрын
Aw, that is so incredibly kind of you to say. Thank you so much. I appreciate you being here and sharing your love of literature with me!
@iancopperfield9488 3 жыл бұрын
watched the whole lecture - it's fascinating, thank you so much! I also saw a lot of 80/20 rule applied here to understand Shakespeare's work (focusing on enjoyment over historical gossips, reading his poems to reflect on one's own emotions & most noticeable poetic devices etc) - I think that is how one should read great works too! :)
@BenjaminMcEvoy 3 жыл бұрын
Thank you, Ian! So glad you enjoyed it. Bang on! My thoughts in a nutshell right there :)
@danielking8937 Жыл бұрын
can't believe this is free
@BenjaminMcEvoy Жыл бұрын
Thank you, Daniel! :)
@danielking8937 Жыл бұрын
Truly the English Literature teacher I never had (':
@thomaslowry7079 2 жыл бұрын
Over the course of watching a number of your extraordinary videos, even when you didn't mention Shakespeare's sonnets, a little voice in my mind kept saying, "The sonnets!" Personal canon? "The sonnets! Difficult works? "The sonnets!" Now, at last, I am returning to these intricate puzzles! How fascinating that I am both the puzzle AND the solution! That is my starting point! Your presentation on Sonnet 66 was superb! I enjoyed every minute of this lecture, but the discussion of Sonnet 66 was my favorite part. That makes perfect sense because I am feeling tired at the moment! Benjamin, I can't thank you enough for everything you do! Your presentations have renewed my love of great literature and brought purpose to my life!
@johannsebastianbach3411 2 жыл бұрын
I am only recently, at the age of 23, getting into poetry and literature. Having been raised with music and educated in the western classics such as bach mozart beethoven and chopin etc the first 10 minutes of you explaining how you have favorite sonnets really opened my eyes towards appreciating poems: i do the same with beethoven sonatas, bach’s well tempered clavier, Chopin’s mazurkas… i have my favorites, some of my choices liked by all, some known only to a few, but all my favorites, they just speak to me. There have been countless times when upon first listening a piece didn’t speak to me but upon closer listening, listening with my gut, that I noticed details in a piece that moved me deeply! Thank you for your articulation!!
@caracarlson-roberts6325 6 ай бұрын
What I have to say is not profound, nor will it be much help to you, but I just want to share my love of Sonnet 73 to you. As my husband aged and knew that his mental faculties were declining, this man, whose passion for literature opened up vistas of volumes for myself, and for my son started to memorize Sonnet 73 when he knew his mind was going. Mel was born on December 11 and died on December 11 and this year, for the first time, my son and I sat down and we read Sonnet 73 to each other, alternating lines, and discussing each line, each word as we made our way through. The evening was perfect, the air was still and very crisp and we timed the reading at sunset. My son and I often try to come up with some way to honor the date of Mel‘s birthday and recognize his absence and this year was the best. So Ben and to your audience, I am presenting my son with a copy of the sonnets, and the challenge to read them all in succession for this coming year, 2024. It will be interesting to see where we are when December 11 rolls around next year. Perhaps then I can give you my top 10. Happy reading everyone.
@leanievestorres Ай бұрын
Admirable vuestra lectura, de los sonetos de William Shakespeare. Amé tu lectura.
@24sherbear Жыл бұрын
Did you happen to catch the actor Patrick Stewart during the lockdown? I stumbled onto it somehow. He came on KZfaq every afternoon and read a Sonnet. Of course, he could read me a phone book and I’d be transported. I looked forward to it everyday. That was one positive that came out of all this. The people that rushed to offer their poems, art music. Andrew Lloyd Webber made us filmed musicals available every weekend. I thanked God everyday for the connections I made through the internet. I live alone and more that 2-3 days of solitude depresses me. So, people like you saved the day!
@AG-jf6wg 8 ай бұрын
I am so learning a lot from Benjamin McEvoy. The Lord bless you. As I hear him give this lesson, and as I read Sonnet 29 with him, I thought to myself: " This is what heaven looks like."
@kimmyk3640 10 ай бұрын
I am so excited that this video popped up in my feed! I started reading the sonnets, one a day, over a month ago. I keep a notebook with quick reactions to each one, and I'm enjoying the process. Thank you for this deep dive!
@jenniferkychu6109 2 жыл бұрын
Great lecture 👍🏻Thank you for helping us appreciate the beauty of Shakespeare’s sonnets
@BenjaminMcEvoy 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you, Jennifer :) I'm so happy you enjoyed it!
@carrier-xo6qt Ай бұрын
I love sonnet 97. It got me through a heartbreak long ago, and it did so because it expressed so perfectly how I felt (what freezings I have felt, what dark days seen, what old December's bareness everywhere-wow), and it was evocatively beautiful in my imagination that I came to love the poem even more than the lost loved-one. I feel I could never exhaust the ways to experience this sonnet.Thank you Benjamin - you are brilliant and inspiring and beautiful as well.
@sonitagovan 2 жыл бұрын
I absolutely loved this lecture. I have not read a single sonnet and I am so excited to try them....wish me lots of luck
@BenjaminMcEvoy 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much :) Good luck, Sonita. I'm sure you'll enjoy them! Let me know any favourites!
@alexandrefreitas9558 2 жыл бұрын
Hi there. Im from Brazil. Watching you talking about Pound, Auden, Bloom's commentaries, it was a pleasure. Thanks for the video and the explanations. I just bought "Oxford Shakespeare Complete sonnets and poems". I do accept your challenge. Thank you.
@jimlivengood3962 Жыл бұрын
Quite intriguing, Benjamin M. I love Shakespeare, but have never really delved into the sonnets. Serendipitous, indeed, that I get to hear your brilliant episode. Many thanks for your channel.
@gauravjoshi9990 2 жыл бұрын
Thankyou v much..... you're doing a wonderful job 👏 inspiring us explaining, appreciating great works of all time..... hats off 🎩
@shabirmagami146 3 жыл бұрын
Congratulations!!!....You are brilliant....sharing this with my students with your permission... :)
@BenjaminMcEvoy 3 жыл бұрын
Thank you, Shabir :) Share away! I hope they like it.
@Paulkazey1 5 ай бұрын
Bless you. This is a revelation. I feel permission to relax and feel as well as understand.
@saharasharioon5442 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much. So helpful. My thesis is based on his sonnets. I have already been studying.
@vis_18 2 жыл бұрын
11:45 Pls dont mind me, just taking notes Fascinating lecture. I have to study Shakespeare's sonnet in my post graduation syllabus, and I most certainly think I found just the content. Many thanks for the book you recommended in the video.
@glamariscohen899 2 жыл бұрын
Another great lecture!! I had just started the Sonnets as part of my scriptural reading project (after watching that lecture), and this knowledge has already increased my understanding and enjoyment 3 sonnets in! I planned to read one a day, but find myself not ready to put them down. Any advice on this, considering I’m trying to read scripturally?
@mikeramsay5964 2 жыл бұрын
I have a small book: Shakespeare's Sonnets edited by Stanley Wells. It doesn't have any notes, definitions or anything else to influence the reader. I also have the Arden edition you recommend, and Helen Vendler's, The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets (1997) which has a cd with an audio version of most, but not all, of the sonnets. I had a couple semesters of Shakespeare in college and look forward to getting back into the bard.
@BenjaminMcEvoy 2 жыл бұрын
These are all terrific works, Mike. I adore Helen Vendler - her close analysis/exegesis is unparalleled. I love how close she sticks to the linguistics. If you enjoy her on the sonnets, she has similar companions for Emily Dickinson and John Keats that I cannot recommend highly enough :)
@epmcgill8301 2 жыл бұрын
I'd love to hear a lecture of yours on how to read The Divine Comedy!
@BenjaminMcEvoy 2 жыл бұрын
It's a long-term project I'm planning at the moment :)
@michaelmcgee335 Жыл бұрын
Very educational thankyou.
@adamgabriele2953 Жыл бұрын
I like to read sonnet 1 as about the nature of art and genius. Rather than make a baby, he is telling himself, the artist, to stay always rngaged with the workd around him. The creative spark engendered in the artist is an investment made in the individual by the world or some divine force, in the hopes of a consequent artistic output which will improve enrich the world and feed and inspire future artists. The poem reminds the artist both what he owes to the muses and that genius is ecological, only sustained through constant appreciative engagement with the world and community around you
@BenjaminMcEvoy Жыл бұрын
That is such a beautiful reading of this iconic sonnet, Adam. Thank you so much for sharing, my friend. I love that!!
@adamgabriele2953 Жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminMcEvoy we share and share alike. Thank you for the opportunity!
@TheWhitehiker Жыл бұрын
'strength by limping sway disabled'-- perhaps an athletic person with an involuntary limp. Figurative or physical.
@ileanaaaaa Жыл бұрын
Thank you for this video! I enjoyed it immensely 😊
@BenjaminMcEvoy Жыл бұрын
You are so welcome, Ileana! Thank you so much for watching :)
@jcmeducationstudioportal1994 Жыл бұрын
I’m so glad to have found this channel ❤
@BenjaminMcEvoy Жыл бұрын
Thank you, my friend. I'm so happy you're here too ❤️
@mollygabrielle4171 3 жыл бұрын
i just got an offer for oxford :0 :)))))
@BenjaminMcEvoy 3 жыл бұрын
Wow!! Well done, Molly!!! :)
@mollygabrielle4171 3 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminMcEvoy tysm for your videos!!!
@BenjaminMcEvoy 3 жыл бұрын
@@mollygabrielle4171 You are so welcome! :)
@chessematics 6 ай бұрын
I was overjoyed when I saw you refer to that same book I have. Could you recommend similar explanatory editions of Wordsworth and Keats?
@helpyourcattodrive 2 жыл бұрын
Third time listening. I’m so inspired.
@seanomaille8157 7 ай бұрын
"How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose action is no stronger than a flower?" From sonnet 65 Especially in this age of war and madness. Don Paterson's book on the sonnets is erudite, illuminating and at times laugh-out-loud hilarious.
@marjoriedybec3450 2 жыл бұрын
While reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, I found so much of the sonnets in Wilde's words. Inspired to write a poem about Oscar Wilde, I wanted to know a little more about where he physically was living, how old he was, etc when he created Dorian Gray, and whether or not he had been a Shakespeare scholar while studying the Classics. This lead me to The Portrait of W.H., the short story by Oscar Wilde. Have you read it ? OMG. Its like a link between the sonnets and Dorian Gray. It was written the year before Dorian Gray was published. This short story deserves one of your 'deep dives.'
@roseofficial5250 2 жыл бұрын
Its helpful for my exam
@nancyvanderpuye5475 3 жыл бұрын
Great start to a Sunday.. Thx Benjamin. The hour went by so fast. What was the name of the book you mentioned at the beginning which has a sonnet on each page and discussion on the other?
@BenjaminMcEvoy 3 жыл бұрын
Thank you, Nancy! So glad you enjoyed it :) That book would be the Arden Edition of Shakespeare's sonnets!
@paulachec6424 7 ай бұрын
It was a great pleasure to listen to your lecture ❤
@BenjaminMcEvoy 7 ай бұрын
Thank you, Paula! That makes me so happy to hear :)
@paulachec6424 7 ай бұрын
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I graduated from the university in Poland with a degree in linguistics a few years ago and I had many literature lectures etc. But I have never heard anything so interesting and involving as your lecture. It was so... true. Love it🤗
@MandyJMaddison Жыл бұрын
Sonnet 66, There are a number of words in the sonnet that are no longer familiar, but the drift is clear. Just one line is truly confusing- "As to behold desert a beggar born..." What on earth does this mean? "Desert" with the emphasis on the second syllable, is a proper noun meaning the quality of being deserving, or by extension, a person who is deserving. So here w have a picture of a truly deserving person, being born a beggar.
@cassiopeia347 11 ай бұрын
thank you so much!
@BenjaminMcEvoy 11 ай бұрын
You're so welcome! Thank you for watching :)
@AMore429 Жыл бұрын
Bravo !
@speakz6935 Жыл бұрын
It would be very interesting to hear your thoughts on Alexander Waugh's channel!
@user-ko6gw7it6c 7 ай бұрын
you’re awesome❤
@BenjaminMcEvoy 7 ай бұрын
Aw, thank you ❤️
@torrerossa1 11 ай бұрын
Thank you for you for your wonderful talks on literature, particularly Shakespeare. You give so much of yourself and model response to literature so well that we move forward more confidently with our own. I have a particular a question about Sonnet18 that I haven't been able to find any comment on any where and want to ask you what you think. Is the "thee" in this poem literally a lover as commentaries invariably say or is Shakespeare personifying love here? The description seems to be pointing to the enduring nature of love which is kept alive in poetry rather than to the qualities of a lover. Why describe a lover as temperate? Why say that the lover will the lover never wander in death's shade? It seems to me that the poet is celebrating love itself. Am I missing something here?
@jonathanhernandez2188 Жыл бұрын
Been very into your channel, was wondering if you enjoy the writing of rainer maria rilke? Would love your thoughts on his work, as he is my favorite poet at the moment
@BenjaminMcEvoy Жыл бұрын
Thank you, Jonathan :) I love Rilke - one of the poets most personally meaningful to me, alongside Shakespeare, Rumi, and Blake. We have a podcast on his 'Letters to a Young Poet' that you might enjoy!
@multimillionaire8489 2 жыл бұрын
15:51.. a young bill header.. from SNL
@gamu1647 3 жыл бұрын
Awesome-
@BenjaminMcEvoy 3 жыл бұрын
Thank you :)
@lydiadugan8368 2 жыл бұрын
Do you work in a book shop?
@Charmagh110 8 ай бұрын
1:07:03
@postacq 2 жыл бұрын
19:13
@emilywilson7308 Жыл бұрын
Wow!
@barbarapenfold2097 Жыл бұрын
I cannot catch what book you recommend
@Anicius_ 2 жыл бұрын
32:10 well marlowe was murdered for being an athiest
@marjoriedybec3450 2 жыл бұрын
You are a gift. Thank you. Maybe you are Shakespeare reincarnated...hmmm.
@BenjaminMcEvoy 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you, Marjorie :) Incredibly high praise indeed!
@mindylawrence7357 Жыл бұрын
And if you want to listen to a sonnet a day, here's Sir Patrick Stewart reading a sonnet a day. Why not read and listen at the same time? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f9R5gLOestnem3k.html
@TheWhitehiker Жыл бұрын
Will gay or bi? Seems certain, but Will is a clever fellow, abhorring the explicit, even in his dramatic characterizing.
@maryann7619 Жыл бұрын
OK, seriously, Benjamin, do you have to seduce me in broad daylight? Swoon 😏
@michaelmcgee335 Жыл бұрын
I have had people say I'm bad when I don't believe I had been. So I can relate. Not sure if I agree though. Isn't better to have good character despite what people think?
@barrymoore4470 Жыл бұрын
I think so, yes. Even if one's virtue were hidden somehow from everyone else, you yourself would know that you had good values and tried to do the right thing.
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