PL9fwy3NUQKwYGN66V9CL-c7DFnG0_Swb2/OYQo3hmn_I0.srt

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Assalamualaikum and welcome back again to English

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poetry at the Islamic University of Gaza,

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Palestine. We are still talking about the sonnet.

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We'll be talking about the sonnet in every major

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poetry movement. Last time we discussed "Shall I

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Compare Thee to a Summer's Day," Sonnet 18. We

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discussed the form, the content, the theme, the

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features, and many other things. Today we'll

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basically examine Sonnet 130, or as

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it's sometimes known as "My Mistress' Eyes." But

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before I go to this sonnet, I'll go

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back again to Sonnet 18 and examine issues or

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repeat issues we mentioned last

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time, so we highlight them. Remember we said

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Shakespeare's sonnets are three quatrains and one

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couplet. Sometimes in a sonnet we have three

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quatrains developing the same thing, the same

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image, in other words, in different ways, and then

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we have the turn, or the volta, or the twist at the

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very end. However, some sonnets actually do

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have quatrain one and quatrain two highlighting the issue

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or the crisis or the complication, and then the

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third quatrain twists the argument, like we have

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in "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day,"

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because this third quatrain stands:  "But thy

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eternal." So everything dies, everything declines,

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but thy eternal beauty does not, not because of

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something special in you, not because you're

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different, but because I make you different, because

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Shakespeare's poetry makes you different. Reading

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this text, we could stop at different things, like

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the word "temperate." Now, the dictionary gives you two

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pronunciations: temperate (two syllables), or

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temperate (three syllables). And because this

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rhymes with "date"—the long A, the triphthong, A—it

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doesn't work 100% with the rhyme scheme. There's a

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bunch of possibilities here. Number one: maybe

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during Shakespeare's time, it was pronounced

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"temperate." That's one. Or number two: some people

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say, for poetic license, just to make it more

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musical, go for "temperate." Something I don't like.

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Now, if it remains "temperate," it means this is an

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imperfect rhyme. And still, if you go for two

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syllables ("temperate"), it makes nine syllables.

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Again, creating double trouble here. And in my

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opinion, this is always, with Shakespeare, this is

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always connected with the meaning. So he's saying,

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"they were more lovely and more temperate," but the

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line in which he claims and states that she is

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more temperate—she's perfect—it's imperfect in

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two things. And the perfection can only be

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achieved if she loves him back.  Assuming that this

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is addressed to a woman, because many people take

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it for granted that Shakespeare's 126 sonnets are

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for a man. I don't care about this. I read this as

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a love poem. Okay, so this is number one. Number

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two, I always like to stop at the "and" and the "the" at the

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end. The two "the"s we have here. The object

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pronounced for the addressee—the beloved—sort of

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When we did the meter, we said "Shall I compare thee to a"

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and this is an unstressed syllable, a weak syllable,

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insignificant compared to the stressed syllable.

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However, when you go to this, when you go here, "So

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long lives this," and this gives life to thee.

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Started unstressed, weak, insignificant,

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unimportant, short, and ended, because when you

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say a stressed syllable, it's a syllable that is

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strong, that is long, basically. It's given more

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emphasis in the way we speak, and this is the

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nature of the English language. And always in an

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English poem, in poetry in general, even in Arabic

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poetry, the poem begins somewhere and it ends

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somewhere else, because this is basically where the

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poet is taking us. You begin this way and then you

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end differently, a little bit different, or

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sometimes dramatically different. I think there's

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a connection here between the woman, the addressee,

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being unstressed, insignificant, and ending. The

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stressed syllable being more important, more

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emphasized. Could be possibly it's just poetic,

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yeah? Could be just there for no reason. I feel

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that this is what I like to do with poetry: like

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to try to connect these tiny little things in the

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form, in the rhyme scheme, in the sounds, to the

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meaning. So what happened here? What changed? Why

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has the unstressed initially become stressed at

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the end? What changed in the poem? What do we have

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in the ending of the poem that we didn't have in

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the opening? Please.

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Why isn't

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she important?

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Why wasn't she important in the opening?

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Okay, so Shakespeare gives her importance

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here. Is there any condition, any tax, anything?

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It was just for free? What happens here? Please. I

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don't know about the beginning, but in the end, I

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think he's speaking like he's sure that he will

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give her life forever. He will make her live

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forever. There's confidence here, the way

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Shakespeare speaks. He is confident, definitely.

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And so is he in the opening. He is also confident.

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I think that the poet's confidence does not

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change. Something else changes. Please. At first,

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she wasn't with him. But in the end, he's asking

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her to be with him. And this, I think, will make

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her more powerful and more... okay, eternal. I think

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this is in many ways true. Here he's still—he's

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trying to convince her, to win her heart. She is

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not with him. And again, even like I was reading

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something the other night about the

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misunderstanding people usually have when they say

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this poem was written for a man. It doesn't

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necessarily mean Shakespeare wrote it for a man.

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It could be... The fact that he wrote it for a man to

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send to a woman. Still, you know, the addressee

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is basically a woman. Because again, when you had

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a patron at that time, the patron would give you

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protection—political, social protection—and you

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know, and also sometimes would give you money.

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Why? Just to write poems. "Please write me a poem

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here, write me a poem there, I want a poem here, I

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want to send a poem to this or that." So even if

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you take it for granted that the first 126 sonnets

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were written for a man, it's possible that some of

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them were written for a man to be sent to a woman.

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Okay, the other thing is, again, this "but." The

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twist here, the volta, it's called. Sometimes we

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have it—usually we have it here—but sometimes we

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have it in the couplet. So the sonnet here goes for

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eight lines saying that everything dies, every

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thing from fearsome time declines. Beauty is

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transient. It doesn't last forever. Everybody

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dies. Even the most beautiful time of the year is

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short. It's too hot. Sometimes nature is cruel,

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destructive. But there is hope. There is a way out

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of this. And I also like to comment on the use of

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"when." It could have been, by the way, "by chance," or

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"nature's changing course," or "trend," "when," in eternal

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lines to time thou growest, thy eternal something

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something. But Shakespeare delays this—the

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condition, which is beautiful from an

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argumentative point of view. The poem's logic

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is really beautiful. It's again deliberately

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calculated.

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So the "but" here creates a twist. When you are

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about to lose hope—if everybody is going to die,

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if every beautiful thing just declines, what the

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hell are we doing here?—There's a way. I can make

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you eternal. I can make you immortal. You can

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live—not only live in my poetry, you can also

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grow. Like now, everybody, we're here in Gaza,

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we're talking about this Shakespearean sonnet

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about the addressee. The "when" could have been an

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"if." And "when" is more... this is confidence again.

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More certain; there's certainty here. And again,

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answering the question whether Shakespeare knew

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that he was great, that he was writing great poetry,

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that he was destined for greatness. Definitely he

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had a feeling that he would be a cool guy in the

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future, to be loved by every single student around

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the world. Okay, the other thing before I go to

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the meter, the other thing is the fact that

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Shakespeare personifies death. Again, there's this

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thing about Shakespeare being obsessed with death.

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You'll find it everywhere in his works, in his

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plays. And

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many people try to connect between Shakespeare and

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Hamlet and examine how death—the undiscovered

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country from whose bourn no traveller returns—

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Now, clearly, Shakespeare... I don't want to say

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clearly; some people believe that Shakespeare felt

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bad and sorry and angry and frustrated because

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he's going to die. And I think many great people

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do feel the same. Why should I die? Why do bad

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people live forever, and I, the good guy with a

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good heart and good potency and good everything,

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am going to die? So there's always this battle

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between Shakespeare and death. And if the

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battleground is in the sonnets, Shakespeare comes

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out the winner. So the personification of death

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here brings death down. Brings death down to us as

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a human being, undermining the might of death, the

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strength of death, saying death is another human

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being that even can't brag. Even death is not bragging

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Why? Simply because, "in eternal lines to time thou

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growest." The last point before I saw some of you

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raise your hands. Remember this is a trochee,

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this is an iamb. Stressed, unstressed. Almost

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the whole poem follows this iambic pentameter.

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Except maybe here, and here, and here, and here.

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Creating something called, in poetry, a spondee.

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Spondee. Look at how tough the word is: Spondee.

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like a storm. And this term is not only with an F,

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it's also destructive, it destroys. So rough winds

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here, there is an emphasis on the fact that nature

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is destructive. That nature destroys beauty.

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The same with "do shake." Some might say, no, I

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don't want to stress "do." Okay, it's an I am. So

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rough winds do shake, or rough winds do shake, do

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shake or do shake. The same thing happens in the

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end. Lives this. I like again Rahaf's suggestion

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that "lives" might not be stressed, but "this" might,

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giving more emphasis to this Shakespeare's poetry

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over life, because yes, Shakespeare's poetry

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outlives life. He died, she died, everybody died,

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but he still lives forever and ever. Not only

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living, but also growing. Okay, anything you want

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to say about Sonnet 18, please. Yeah. It was about

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when you mentioned who Shakespeare wrote the sonnet

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for. The thing that always confuses me is why do

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they always consider that the speaker is

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Shakespeare himself? Yeah, you're right. It could

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be a woman speaking to a man. You're right.

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You're completely right. The persona is not

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necessarily the poet. The persona could be a

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fictional person, and this is true here, true in

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fiction and short stories and in novels.

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I think at that time it was taken for granted that

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the speaker is basically a man. Because it was

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taken for granted that only men could write poetry

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at that time. But yeah, good point. Thank you very

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much. beautiful overall, but I took it from a

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feminist perspective. First, he said, "Shall I

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compare thee?" So he's politely suggesting or

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asking for her permission. And then in line 12, when

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he says "in eternal lines," after he owns her and he

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gets what he wants, he's, when eternalized to

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the time that grows, he's saying that he's like giving

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her a favor, that he's eternalizing her in his

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poetry. But I think that she doesn't need him.

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It's not like he's dealing with a woman that's

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like his proper priority. I'm not sure, okay. And

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that he owns her. Okay, "you are mine." I had a

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chance. Either I want to immortalize you or I

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don't. So it's not that he likes the woman as a

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woman. He likes her because he can control her. He

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can use her to show how good he is. Yeah, yeah,

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yeah, there's this. But again, also, I don't want

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to assume that he won her heart here. This is all

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still an assumption. Because where is the woman?

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Thank you for raising this point. Where is the

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woman in the text? She's not there. She's not

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responding to him. She's not saying, okay, maybe

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00:18:09,700 --> 00:18:11,460
she said, "Okay, I'll think about it. Give me just

275
00:18:11,460 --> 00:18:17,520
three, four, 10 years." I don't think there is any

276
00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:19,560
indication in the poem that she's saying okay,

277
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:24,360
okay, okay. So yeah, you can read this as a

278
00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:27,300
feminist and say that this is not good, this is

279
00:18:27,300 --> 00:18:32,640
anti-feminist. Okay, we have something, a parody,

280
00:18:33,140 --> 00:18:33,380
Noha.

281
00:18:36,410 --> 00:18:39,390
Please write parodies. Parodies are fun. Let's see

282
00:18:39,390 --> 00:18:42,510
how things go. You asked where is the woman in

283
00:18:42,510 --> 00:18:45,150
Shakespeare's sonnet, and here I am going to talk

284
00:18:45,150 --> 00:18:50,970
to you about the woman. So here I wrote it from a

285
00:18:50,970 --> 0:18:53,550
feminist point of view. I didn't really like the

286
00:18:53,550 --> 00:18:56,740
fact that Shakespeare is trying, is boasting,

287
00:18:56,860 --> 00:18:59,460
let's not say Shakespeare, the persona is like

288
00:18:59,460 --> 00:19:02,200
keeps boasting about how he's going to immortalize

289
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,900
her in his poetry. I don't really like this, and

290
00:19:04,900 --> 00:19:08,540
also how he only loves her because she's fair. Can

291
00:19:08,540 --> 00:19:12,260
you speak up? Okay, okay, so basically here I'm a

292
00:19:12,260 --> 00:19:15,680
strong independent woman. "Shall I compare thee to

293
00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,520
a boasting bear, thou art more desperate and

294
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:22,160
more voracious?" Bold men describe a lady as fair,

295
00:19:22,380 --> 00:19:25,100
and imprison her in lines as if gracious.

296
00:19:26,260 --> 00:19:29,420
Sometimes too reckless, the evolved ape behaves,

297
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,240
and often is his mind detached from his brain. And

298
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,820
every fair confronting fair sometimes caves by

299
00:19:36,820 --> 00:19:40,970
chance or a human that is sane. But thy eternal

300
00:19:40,970 --> 00:19:44,530
vanity shall not be destroyed except by the morals

301
00:19:44,530 --> 00:19:48,150
a fair lady owest, nor shall thy braggart's soul

302
00:19:48,150 --> 00:19:53,430
be void unless it more dominance showest. So long

303
00:19:53,430 --> 00:19:57,490
as women can breathe or eyes can see, so long

304
00:19:57,490 --> 00:20:00,990
lives this, and this gives life to thee. Okay, nice.

305
00:20:03,090 --> 00:20:05,310
Thank you very much. That's a really, really good

306
00:20:05,310 --> 00:20:05,650
parody.

307
00:20:08,340 --> 00:20:13,660
Okay, let's move very quickly to this poem. Just

308
00:20:13,660 --> 00:20:16,840
again, Shakespeare making the same point in

309
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,320
different ways, and this is interesting about

310
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,820
Shakespeare. "Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor

311
00:20:21,820 --> 00:20:26,340
bound this sea, but sad mortality being an issue

312
00:20:26,340 --> 00:20:29,720
that Shakespeare struggles with, oversways their

313
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,660
power, et cetera." The point I want to make in this

314
00:20:32,660 --> 00:20:34,880
sonnet is just the couplet. Look at the couplet here

315
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,670
at the end. It's similar to Sonnet 18. "So long as

316
00:20:38,670 --> 00:20:40,470
men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives

317
00:20:40,470 --> 00:20:43,150
this, and this gives life to thee." Here he says, oh

318
00:20:43,150 --> 00:20:46,510
none, nothing is going to live forever unless

319
00:20:46,510 --> 00:20:52,270
going for the condition, you will live if, when,

320
00:20:52,670 --> 00:20:58,610
unless this miracle have might that in black ink,

321
00:20:59,050 --> 00:21:02,500
what's black ink? My poetry, this, my eternal

322
00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:06,420
lines. "That in black ink my love may still shine

323
00:21:06,420 --> 00:21:10,480
bright." You could, I'm not sure if you're

324
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,280
interested in doing research on poetry. You could

325
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,100
do research on Shakespeare's couplets. See how,

326
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,380
what they say. And if they say the same thing,

327
00:21:20,020 --> 00:21:23,240
different ways. Another sonnet I like by

328
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,640
Shakespeare is Sonnet 73, I guess.

329
00:21:29,430 --> 00:21:31,610
Again, we're not going to study it in detail, just

330
00:21:31,610 --> 00:21:34,730
I want to make a couple of points. Number one, we

331
00:21:34,730 --> 00:21:40,610
have the quatrain here, quatrain two and quatrain

332
00:21:40,610 --> 00:21:44,390
three and then a couplet. Look at how each one

333
00:21:44,390 --> 00:21:49,230
begins. "That time of year thou mayst in me behold..."

334
00:21:49,230 --> 00:21:53,410
What's "mayst?" May, that's why some versions of the

335
00:21:53,410 --> 00:21:57,330
sonnet will usually drop the "st" for "thou," but they

336
00:21:57,330 --> 00:22:02,870
will keep the "thee" and "thou" and that "th." "In me

337
00:22:02,870 --> 00:22:06,450
behold," what's "behold?" See, that's a poetic word,

338
00:22:06,510 --> 00:22:09,570
it's a beautiful word. "Behold, when yellow leaves

339
00:22:09,570 --> 00:22:15,410
or none of you do hang..." I don't know why, but I

340
00:22:15,410 --> 00:22:17,670
have never written a more beautiful line than this

341
00:22:17,670 --> 00:22:23,490
one in the description. "When yellow leaves, or none

342
00:22:24,970 --> 00:22:28,450
of you do hang," you know in early leaves, what

343
00:22:28,450 --> 00:22:31,270
time of year is this? Autumn. That's autumn. So

344
00:22:31,270 --> 00:22:35,030
he's describing autumn, and autumn is the end of

345
00:22:35,030 --> 00:22:40,690
the year. "Upon those boughs which shake against

346
00:22:40,690 --> 00:22:42,950
the cold." And I like the use of "shake, shake, shake,"

347
00:22:43,010 --> 00:22:46,030
every time it shakes. That's half his name. "Upon

348
00:22:46,030 --> 00:22:48,910
those boughs which shake against the cold." And

349
00:22:48,910 --> 00:22:52,190
look at how, it's not cold yet here in Gaza, but

350
00:22:52,190 --> 00:22:55,030
look at this personification, personifying the

351
00:22:55,030 --> 00:22:58,850
boughs, the branches as very old people shaking

352
00:22:58,850 --> 00:23:01,150
because of the cold. Look at this image.

353
00:23:01,810 --> 00:23:06,730
Fascinating. Beautiful. Sad, but beautiful. It's

354
00:23:06,730 --> 00:23:11,390
not people shaking here. It's so cold that even

355
00:23:11,390 --> 00:23:15,940
the branches are shaking against the cold. "With

356
00:23:15,940 --> 00:23:19,660
shake against the cold, bare ruined choirs where

357
00:23:19,660 --> 00:23:24,440
laid, the sweet birds sang." Look at the sad. This

358
00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:28,560
musicality here. But it's no longer there, the

359
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,580
singing. "Sang." It's in the past. They no longer

360
00:23:33,580 --> 00:23:37,940
sing. And look at the tough beginning here of the

361
00:23:37,940 --> 00:23:41,220
line, like the spondee, "just bare ruined choirs

362
00:23:41,220 --> 00:23:46,550
were laid, the sweet birds sang." So the ending of

363
00:23:46,550 --> 00:23:51,990
the year, autumn, fall. And now the second stanza,

364
00:23:52,370 --> 00:23:57,850
quatrain, goes for, "in me again, thou see'st the

365
00:23:57,850 --> 00:24:03,190
twilight of such a day." And twilight is? Twilight

366
00:24:03,190 --> 00:24:09,940
is what time of the day is it? Basically? The

367
00:24:09,940 --> 00:24:13,060
ending of the day. The twilight is the ending of

368
00:24:13,060 --> 00:24:18,480
the day. "In me thou see'st the twilight of such

369
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:24,180
a day as after sunset fades the west, which by

370
00:24:24,180 --> 00:24:28,600
and by black night does take away death's second

371
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,640
self." And again, many people criticized

372
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,600
Shakespeare for saying the obvious in in many

373
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,340
unobvious ways. You know, sometimes you make fun

374
00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:42,840
of people who say Mr. Obvious. Shakespeare is Mr.

375
00:24:43,020 --> 00:24:47,340
Unobvious all the time. He just keeps, he doesn't

376
00:24:47,340 --> 00:24:51,880
like shortcuts. What's death's second self? Sleep.

377
00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:55,520
Sleeping, yeah. Why don't you say sleep,

378
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,000
Shakespeare? Oh, other people, ordinary people say

379
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,430
sleep. I don't. "Death's second self that seals up

380
00:25:02,430 --> 00:25:05,910
all unrest." Look at the beautiful euphemistic

381
00:25:05,910 --> 00:25:09,030
terms here. "Rest" could be a pun. Let's take a rest

382
00:25:09,030 --> 00:25:14,830
and "rest in peace." Rest in peace. So this is the

383
00:25:14,830 --> 00:25:20,150
ending of the day. And then "in me again, thou

384
00:25:20,150 --> 00:25:26,170
see'st the glowing of such fire, that on the ashes

385
00:25:26,170 --> 00:25:31,610
of his youth does lie." Ashes is the ending of of

386
00:25:31,610 --> 00:25:35,890
the fire, the ending of the year, the ending of the

387
00:25:35,890 --> 00:25:39,290
day, the ending of the fire, probably here

388
00:25:39,290 --> 00:25:46,810
symbolizing passion and love, possible.

389
00:25:46,810 --> 00:25:52,760
Yeah. End of life, possible, yeah, yeah. "That on

390
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:57,460
the ashes of his youth does lie, as the deathbed

391
00:25:57,460 --> 00:26:02,080
wherein it must expire, consumed with that which

392
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:07,860
it was nourished by." How the fire eats itself. And

393
00:26:07,860 --> 00:26:11,920
again, we're all going to die. Everything is going

394
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:17,830
to die. "Become the beautiful couplet here. This

395
00:26:17,830 --> 00:26:22,690
thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong." I

396
00:26:22,690 --> 00:26:25,690
know grammar was not totally standard, even the

397
00:26:25,690 --> 00:26:27,530
spelling with Shakespeare. You will be surprised

398
00:26:27,530 --> 00:26:31,390
if you see the original sonnet, how it was written

399
00:26:31,390 --> 00:26:33,810
during the time of Shakespeare. You will recognize

400
00:26:33,810 --> 00:26:36,570
some of the words, but not most of them. Like some

401
00:26:36,570 --> 00:26:40,010
of them will be not be recognized in the letters. The

402
00:26:40,010 --> 00:26:44,050
spelling was horrible. But don't take this as an

403
00:26:44,050 --> 00:26:46,270
excuse, telling me in the exam that you're writing

404
00:26:46,270 --> 00:26:50,210
like Shakespeare. So this could be stronger,

405
00:26:50,390 --> 00:26:52,570
right? Grammatically, now you say, we better say

406
00:26:52,570 --> 00:26:56,950
stronger, not "more strong." I love "more strong." So

407
00:26:56,950 --> 00:27:00,270
because everybody, everything dies, I think we

408
00:27:00,270 --> 00:27:04,890
should love each other more strongly. Love has to be

409
00:2

445
00:29:50,870 --> 00:29:56,600
believed with false comparisons. One more, please. My

446
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,980
mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. Coral is far

447
00:29:59,980 --> 00:30:04,160
more red than her lips. If snow be white, why

448
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:08,300
then her breasts are white? If hairs be wires,

449
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:13,180
black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses

450
00:30:13,180 --> 00:30:17,560
damasked, red and white, but no such roses see I

451
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:18,560
in her cheeks.

452
00:30:22,010 --> 00:30:26,250
And in some perfumes

453
00:30:26,250 --> 00:30:31,690
is there more delight than in the breath that from

454
00:30:31,690 --> 00:30:35,430
my mistress breathes. I love to hear her speak, yet

455
00:30:35,430 --> 00:30:39,910
well I know that music hath a far more pleasing

456
00:30:39,910 --> 00:30:43,770
sound. I grant I never saw a goddess glow. My

457
00:30:43,770 --> 00:30:46,530
mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

458
00:30:46,910 --> 00:30:50,440
And yet, by heaven, I think my love is rare, as

459
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:57,580
rare as anything belied with false comparisons.

460
00:30:57,580 --> 00:31:00,980
Thank you. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the

461
00:31:00,980 --> 00:31:06,360
sun. Coral is far more red than her lips. If

462
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,060
snow be white, why then her breasts are white? If

463
00:31:10,060 --> 00:31:15,460
hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have

464
00:31:15,460 --> 00:31:19,160
seen roses, damasked, red and white, but no such

465
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,580
roses see I in her cheeks, and in some perfumes

466
00:31:23,580 --> 00:31:26,060
is there more delight than in the breath that from

467
00:31:26,060 --> 00:31:30,200
my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet

468
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,540
well I know that music hath a far more pleasing

469
00:31:33,540 --> 00:31:38,960
sound. I grant I never saw a goddess go. My

470
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,060
mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

471
00:31:42,580 --> 00:31:45,860
And yet, by heaven, I think my love is rare, as

472
00:31:45,860 --> 00:31:51,000
any she belied with false comparisons. I am not sure

473
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:56,260
how you are reacting or reacted to this poem,

474
00:31:56,700 --> 00:31:59,640
reading it at home and listening to it on YouTube.

475
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:05,060
It always comes, even when I teach it almost every

476
00:32:05,060 --> 00:32:08,500
year. And every time I read it, I feel this kind

477
00:32:08,500 --> 00:32:12,360
of shock, unexpected of Shakespeare. This is not a

478
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:16,100
sonnet we read about, we hear about, the love poem

479
00:32:16,100 --> 00:32:20,120
exalting the beloved, raising her above all

480
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:25,240
natural beauties, all human beauties. To come to

481
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:29,690
this, what on earth is Shakespeare doing? What's

482
00:32:29,690 --> 00:32:32,690
different this time? What is special about this

483
00:32:32,690 --> 00:32:35,510
sonnet? Let's just talk a little bit here and

484
00:32:35,510 --> 00:32:38,610
highlight certain issues before we discuss. So my

485
00:32:38,610 --> 00:32:41,230
mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. This

486
00:32:41,230 --> 00:32:43,670
could be the opening like "Shall I compare thee to

487
00:32:43,670 --> 00:32:46,010
a summer's day?" So my mistress' eyes are nothing

488
00:32:46,010 --> 00:32:48,870
like the sun. Her eyes are even more beautiful.

489
00:32:50,210 --> 00:32:53,740
You know? But again, it goes against our

490
00:32:53,740 --> 00:32:57,920
expectation. Coral, you know coral, the Red Sea,

491
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:03,240
coral is far more red than her lips. And

492
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:09,590
grammatically we say "than her red lips." Some of

493
00:33:09,590 --> 00:33:12,330
you will claim that Shakespeare is doing this for

494
00:33:12,330 --> 00:33:14,430
the rhyme scheme. But again, this is Shakespeare.

495
00:33:14,530 --> 00:33:18,750
He could have said "red than her red lips." I

496
00:33:18,750 --> 00:33:22,510
don't know. And then he said here something "hips,"

497
00:33:22,810 --> 00:33:25,680
you know. It would work, it would be fine, and

498
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,440
Shakira would find this funny because "hips don't

499
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,820
lie." So the coral here, so there's basically

500
00:33:32,820 --> 00:33:36,420
something with Shakespeare, some kind of changing

501
00:33:36,420 --> 00:33:40,220
the word order of the natural grammar. And again,

502
00:33:40,620 --> 00:33:43,280
this is why some, I hope that after reading these

503
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:44,840
two sentences, you will come closer to

504
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:46,480
understanding Shakespeare. I know you are also doing Elizabethan

505
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,220
drama, you come closer to understanding more and

506
00:33:49,220 --> 00:33:52,300
more of Shakespeare. He does this, he plays with

507
00:33:52,300 --> 00:33:57,280
the syntax. Not only again, don't please just say

508
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,780
for emphasis, don't just please say for the rhyme

509
00:34:00,780 --> 00:34:02,840
scheme because Shakespeare can make anything

510
00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:07,060
rhyme. For God's sake, the man coined and made up

511
00:34:07,060 --> 00:34:11,080
like 2000 words. He can do anything here. So

512
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:16,000
coral is far more red than her lips. Her lips

513
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,380
are not that red, especially compared to coral. If

514
00:34:19,380 --> 00:34:22,500
snow be white, and snow is white, why then her

515
00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:25,260
breasts are white? She isn't as white as snow.

516
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,320
She's not white. And again, whiteness associated

517
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:32,480
with, classically, with beauty. She's brownish,

518
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,840
seemingly. If hairs, and I find this very funny,

519
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:43,040
if hairs be wires, if hairs are wires, black

520
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:47,750
wires grow on her head. And I don't know how you

521
00:34:47,750 --> 00:34:51,290
would react. I usually test little girls with

522
00:34:51,290 --> 00:34:54,050
this, and I tell her, like, "shaarek manfoush," or

523
00:34:54,050 --> 00:34:56,170
"shaarek silly jelly," or something like this. And

524
00:34:56,170 --> 00:35:00,290
even little girls wouldn't take this. They would

525
00:35:00,290 --> 00:35:02,430
find this offensive and insulting.

526
00:35:05,230 --> 00:35:10,670
Black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses

527
00:35:10,670 --> 00:35:15,300
damasked, red and white. But no such roses

528
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,480
are seen. You know, beautiful person, a beautiful woman, you

529
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:21,000
just liken her cheeks to white roses, pink roses,

530
00:35:21,180 --> 00:35:23,480
red roses. But here he's saying, but no such

531
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,180
roses, see I in her cheeks. And again, I think there

532
00:35:27,180 --> 00:35:28,920
is here a pattern. Shakespeare is creating a

533
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,860
pattern. He's not only like this, you know,

534
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:36,600
diverting, subverting our expectations. He's also

535
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:42,580
changing the word order; "lips red," changing the order of things in

536
00:35:42,580 --> 00:35:46,470
her cheeks. And in some perfumes is there more

537
00:35:46,470 --> 00:35:49,310
delight than in the breath that from my mistress

538
00:35:49,310 --> 00:35:53,490
reeks. This could mean she stinks, but it just

539
00:35:53,490 --> 00:35:58,270
could mean she has a natural human breath. Not

540
00:35:58,270 --> 00:36:02,730
necessarily somebody who has eaten a huge chunk of

541
00:36:02,730 --> 00:36:08,310
an onion. But "reeks" is also not a compliment. You

542
00:36:08,310 --> 00:36:12,710
stink. But again, I don't want to take "reek" as

543
00:36:12,710 --> 00:36:17,410
just meaning stink. Although it could be. I love

544
00:36:17,410 --> 00:36:21,630
to hear her speak, yet well I know. And I think

545
00:36:21,630 --> 00:36:24,130
here, "well I know" is grammatically correct. But the

546
00:36:24,130 --> 00:36:29,030
more natural word order would be, "I know well." So

547
00:36:29,030 --> 00:36:32,710
is there a pattern of changing things? That music

548
00:36:32,710 --> 00:36:36,660
hath a far more pleasing sound. I grant I never saw

549
00:36:36,660 --> 00:36:40,200
a goddess go. Like beautiful women, you know,

550
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,400
described usually as goddesses, as angels that

551
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:46,120
don't walk, don't touch the ground. They just

552
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:50,660
float, they glow, they glide. I never saw a

553
00:36:50,660 --> 00:36:55,280
goddess go. My mistress, when she walks, however,

554
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,120
when she walks, treads upon the ground. She's

555
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,280
like any other human being. She walks on the

556
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:05,510
ground. And again, so far, this is interesting.

557
00:37:06,810 --> 00:37:11,230
It's just one unit highlighting

558
00:37:11,230 --> 00:37:14,090
the imperfections, the flaws, so to speak.

559
00:37:15,370 --> 00:37:18,330
Although I don't agree that there should be fixed

560
00:37:18,330 --> 00:37:22,470
standards of beauty or what makes beauty. And then

561
00:37:22,470 --> 00:37:27,270
yet, by heaven, by God,  wa rabbi al-sama, he's

562
00:37:27,270 --> 00:37:30,220
swearing here. And again, I said this in another

563
00:37:30,220 --> 00:37:33,000
class, and one student said that Shakespeare was a

564
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,260
religious man. He was, I don't think Shakespeare

565
00:37:35,260 --> 00:37:37,340
was a religious man. I think that Shakespeare was

566
00:37:37,340 --> 00:37:41,400
not only that, but he was deliberately and

567
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,480
consciously distancing himself from religion and

568
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,080
from, I understand that "God" is one syllable in

569
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,920
heaven too. But you'll be surprised, you will of

570
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,100
course necessarily find influences of the Bible,

571
00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:56,320
of Christianity in Shakespeare, but you will be

572
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,220
amazed at how sometimes you feel that

573
00:37:59,220 --> 00:38:01,520
Shakespeare's consciously trying to distance

574
00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:05,360
himself and detach himself from Christianity. Look

575
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:09,340
at his stories, for example. None of his plays is

576
00:38:09,340 --> 00:38:13,940
based on a biblical story, right? And yet, by

577
00:38:13,940 --> 00:38:17,900
heaven, I think my love as rare as any she

578
00:38:17,900 --> 00:38:22,580
belied with false comparisons. It's like, I want you

579
00:38:22,580 --> 00:38:25,910
to do this experiment: go to your

580
00:38:25,910 --> 00:38:28,610
friend, any of your friends, and tell her for

581
00:38:28,610 --> 00:38:31,770
example, "I know you are not punctual,

582
00:38:31,770 --> 00:38:35,390
you're a liar, you're lazy, you're a huge eater, you

583
00:38:35,390 --> 00:38:38,090
don't like pizza," and count like 30

584
00:38:38,090 --> 00:38:42,730
things, and then "but I like you." That's devastating

585
00:38:42,730 --> 00:38:49,010
because you're listing all the horrible things in the

586
00:38:49,010 --> 00:38:49,210
world.

587
00:38:52,630 --> 00:38:57,310
Imperfections. Okay, everybody is imperfect, but if

588
00:38:57,310 --> 00:39:01,790
you are talking to me like, "Why are you just digging

589
00:39:01,790 --> 00:39:04,610
excavating even for things that people

590
00:39:04,610 --> 00:39:07,650
don't know?" And we see this all the time, like in

591
00:39:07,650 --> 00:39:10,490
comic shows, like how people try to compliment

592
00:39:10,490 --> 00:39:14,050
somebody: "Okay, say that he's not

593
00:39:14,050 --> 00:39:16,810
punctual, sometimes he's late, he likes pizza too

594
00:39:16,810 --> 00:39:20,390
much, but he's a really good something." But if

595
00:39:20,390 --> 00:39:25,190
you count like a hundred flaws, you're making me

596
00:39:25,190 --> 00:39:29,250
feel unacceptable in any situation. So I'll ask you a

597
00:39:29,250 --> 00:39:32,290
couple of questions. Number one, what do you think

598
00:39:32,290 --> 00:39:34,270
of the tone? Do you take this as a serious poem?

599
00:39:34,750 --> 00:39:39,830
And how would you react to this as a woman? Or how

600
00:39:39,830 --> 00:39:41,910
would you react to this poem as a woman? And then the

601
00:39:41,910 --> 00:39:44,290
second question, do you think that the tone is

602
00:39:44,290 --> 00:39:47,610
serious or comic or light? Is this a lighthearted,

603
00:39:47,750 --> 00:39:48,050
you know?

604
00:39:50,870 --> 00:39:53,590
Please. Well, first of all, when I first read it,

605
00:39:53,650 --> 00:39:55,710
I was really shocked. I didn't really understand

606
00:39:55,710 --> 00:39:58,250
the concept, the whole concept of it. And then I

607
00:39:58,250 --> 00:40:01,010
realized that he's actually, maybe, describing

608
00:40:01,010 --> 00:40:04,650
a very ordinary lady. Like I think that if I could

609
00:40:04,650 --> 00:40:07,930
draw this person or this lady, I would, I would

610
00:40:07,930 --> 00:40:09,970
see her as a normal person. Not a stick drawing, of

611
00:40:09,970 --> 00:40:15,460
course. Okay, it's my thing too, by the way. So the

612
00:40:15,460 --> 00:40:17,920
thing is that he's really describing an ordinary

613
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,780
lady, but it's somehow offensive. Like you're

614
00:40:20,780 --> 00:40:23,540
writing poetry and poetry or sonnets are supposed

615
00:40:23,540 --> 00:40:26,160
to be about love and appreciation. So why are you

616
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:28,560
doing this? So I think this is why I wouldn't take

617
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:31,660
it for, I wouldn't take it as a real poem. I would

618
00:40:31,660 --> 00:40:34,300
take it more as a, maybe like a parody or something

619
00:40:34,300 --> 00:40:39,060
like that, as comic. So this is a comic poem more than a

620
00:40:39,060 --> 00:40:43,220
serious poem. Like, well, I come back to the point

621
00:40:43,220 --> 00:40:47,580
here. I think we have, like you're saying, I don't

622
00:40:47,580 --> 00:40:50,080
want to take it as a serious poem. I'll take it as

623
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:52,580
a comic or a parody. We'll come back to this point

624
00:40:52,580 --> 00:40:54,860
because there's a misunderstanding about what

625
00:40:54,860 --> 00:40:55,800
parody is, please.

626
00:41:16,450 --> 00:41:23,410
So unfunny? He's not, this is unfunny. Okay, good.

627
00:41:24,890 --> 00:41:29,490
Listen, you know I like Shakespeare, you can trash

628
00:41:29,490 --> 00:41:33,330
him, I'm not going to judge you, so feel free. For

629
00:41:33,330 --> 00:41:35,450
me actually, I really liked him for many reasons.

630
00:41:35,730 --> 00:41:40,330
First, I think Shakespeare was trying to usher in a

631
00:41:40,330 --> 00:41:43,950
new era for his poets, so he was making a… To try,

632
00:41:44,190 --> 00:41:44,510
sorry, a new…?

633
00:41:58,380 --> 00:

667
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:42,620
changing. I never looked at data from this. Why

668
00:44:42,620 --> 00:44:46,580
didn't he get tired at sonnet, for example, 140 or

669
00:44:46,580 --> 00:44:51,480
50? But yeah, I take your point. By the way, some

670
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:54,480
people might find it also, listen, some people

671
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,200
believe that this order of the sonnets is not

672
00:44:57,200 --> 00:45:00,020
probably the right order that Shakespeare wrote

673
00:45:00,020 --> 00:45:04,010
them in. But that is an interesting point, like

674
00:45:04,010 --> 00:45:06,710
it's time for change. It's time for change,

675
00:45:06,770 --> 00:45:08,970
please. I think we should also look at the role of

676
00:45:08,970 --> 00:45:11,690
the woman which led him to write this, because

677
00:45:11,690 --> 00:45:15,070
it's maybe she was obsessed about perfection and

678
00:45:15,070 --> 00:45:17,950
he's convincing her. He's destroying her, he's

679
00:45:17,950 --> 00:45:23,310
bringing her down. No, he's convincing her that he

680
00:45:23,310 --> 00:45:25,770
doesn't care about these things and she's perfect.

681
00:45:26,710 --> 00:45:28,770
He's perfect the way she is. She doesn't have to

682
00:45:28,770 --> 00:45:31,910
be obsessed with, you know, filters and Snapchat

683
00:45:31,910 --> 00:45:38,310
filters and dog filter and please. I think that

684
00:45:38,310 --> 00:45:41,230
it's offensive for him. It's like he's grudging

685
00:45:41,230 --> 00:45:45,830
her his love even though she is not like the

686
00:45:45,830 --> 00:45:52,130
perfect woman in Poland. But what about his own

687
00:45:52,130 --> 00:45:53,050
appearance?

688
00:45:55,930 --> 00:46:00,670
But what

689
00:46:00,670 --> 00:46:03,770
I notice is that you totally agree that these are

690
00:46:03,770 --> 00:46:05,950
shortcomings. Are they?

691
00:46:09,490 --> 00:46:13,550
Somebody doesn't have fair hair, should they kill

692
00:46:13,550 --> 00:46:13,910
themselves?

693
00:46:18,590 --> 00:46:20,910
Because of, yeah, the traditional standards of

694
00:46:20,910 --> 00:46:24,350
beauty at that time, white, fair hair, possibly

695
00:46:24,350 --> 00:46:31,770
red lips, white skin, et cetera, et cetera. So is

696
00:46:31,770 --> 00:46:34,970
Shakespeare trying to, again, criticize and attack

697
00:46:34,970 --> 00:46:39,190
these standards of beauty rather than trashing the

698
00:46:39,190 --> 00:46:43,390
woman? I said maybe that I would like a friend to

699
00:46:43,390 --> 00:46:46,750
tell me about that they respect me despite my

700
00:46:46,750 --> 00:46:52,070
shortcomings. But I wouldn't like a lover to

701
00:46:52,070 --> 00:46:54,130
describe me that way, but at the same time, I

702
00:46:54,130 --> 00:46:57,890
don't find it that offensive, you know? Okay, it's

703
00:46:57,890 --> 00:47:03,770
not completely like a good poem, but it's not

704
00:47:03,770 --> 00:47:07,130
really that offensive as the girls are describing

705
00:47:07,130 --> 00:47:10,850
it. Who thinks it is offensive? Oh, that's very

706
00:47:10,850 --> 00:47:15,210
few of you who thinks it's not offensive. That's

707
00:47:15,210 --> 00:47:18,670
also very few of you. So there are many neutrals

708
00:47:18,670 --> 00:47:25,450
here. Okay, please. Offensive or not? Offensive, I

709
00:47:25,450 --> 00:47:27,790
think, but I have another opinion. I think he

710
00:47:27,790 --> 00:47:31,110
loves her, but because he wasn't able to reach

711
00:47:31,110 --> 00:47:34,630
her, he said all these imperfections to console

712
00:47:34,630 --> 00:47:39,530
himself, like not read as a coral. So is this

713
00:47:39,530 --> 00:47:43,530
about him too consoling himself? Yeah, because he

714
00:47:43,530 --> 00:47:45,690
loves her and he didn't ever torture her. Please.

715
00:47:46,050 --> 00:47:48,890
Who said all these things are imperfections? None

716
00:47:48,890 --> 00:47:53,350
of us has red cheeks, none of us has an eye like a

717
00:47:53,350 --> 00:47:59,010
sun. He's being 100% realistic. I don't think this

718
00:47:59,010 --> 00:48:04,670
is offensive. I think he's not framing her in a

719
00:48:04,670 --> 00:48:08,420
beauty frame or something. She's not a model,

720
00:48:08,900 --> 00:48:12,140
she's an average woman with these things, but

721
00:48:12,140 --> 00:48:17,080
again, do you think Shakespeare is trying to be

722
00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:20,980
realistic rather than offensive? Is he trying to

723
00:48:20,980 --> 00:48:22,000
be realistic?

724
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:33,040
So offensive

725
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:43,840
or realistic? Okay. The imaginary fictional

726
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:44,520
beloved.

727
00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:52,060
This is very blunt. This is really very blunt.

728
00:48:55,420 --> 00:48:58,760
And you don't count like ten horrible devastating

729
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:02,600
things. You just say one thing. Yeah, probably ten

730
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:05,960
sonnets, one in each. But this is too much.

731
00:49:16,090 --> 00:49:22,030
Why don't, why wouldn't people love those? Aren't

732
00:49:22,030 --> 00:49:24,510
we doing the same thing? Aren't we committing the

733
00:49:24,510 --> 00:49:28,230
same horrible thing ourselves? So okay, let's

734
00:49:28,230 --> 00:49:32,110
again see here, there's this possibility that this

735
00:49:32,110 --> 00:49:36,620
poem is a parody. And what is parody we'll see in

736
00:49:36,620 --> 00:49:39,820
a bit, but can you just very quickly, what do you

737
00:49:39,820 --> 00:49:45,160
think what what's parody? Say again, okay, again

738
00:49:45,160 --> 00:49:52,960
you're also highlighting the comic element. Parody

739
00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:57,060
is imitation, an imitation of another literary text,

740
00:49:57,060 --> 00:50:01,520
another genre, another poet, basically in a comic

741
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:05,980
way, so this could sound light and comic and funny

742
00:50:05,980 --> 00:50:08,500
or an attempt at being funny.

743
00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:16,040
Meaning we can take this as Shakespeare trying to

744
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:22,420
criticize the way women were perceived, the way

745
00:50:22,420 --> 00:50:24,580
sonnets were written, the way women were

746
00:50:24,580 --> 00:50:27,570
represented. Perhaps Shakespeare is criticizing

747
00:50:27,570 --> 00:50:32,550
the mainstream standards of beauty at that time,

748
00:50:32,670 --> 00:50:35,090
that a woman to be appreciated, a woman has to

749
00:50:35,090 --> 00:50:39,330
have all these things. But some people might not

750
00:50:39,330 --> 00:50:42,170
like this because they also feel that Shakespeare

751
00:50:42,170 --> 00:50:46,010
himself is falling for the same thing. He's also,

752
00:50:46,230 --> 00:50:50,030
because he's indicating that, he's saying, you

753
00:50:50,030 --> 00:50:51,990
don't have these things, but I love you. He's not

754
00:50:51,990 --> 00:50:55,830
saying these are not, in a way, these are not the

755
00:50:55,830 --> 00:50:58,050
real standards of beauty and beauty is relative

756
00:50:58,050 --> 00:51:01,490
and everybody, you know, can see beauty in the

757
00:51:01,490 --> 00:51:05,970
things they love. He's not saying this. He's

758
00:51:05,970 --> 00:51:08,510
saying you don't have these standards of beauty,

759
00:51:09,330 --> 00:51:17,930
but and not only but, yet. I swear to God, by God,

760
00:51:18,010 --> 00:51:23,690
by heaven, I like you. I love you. And I think you

761
00:51:23,690 --> 00:51:27,110
are rare. And there could be an implication here.

762
00:51:27,410 --> 00:51:30,250
Shakespeare doesn't highlight the character of

763
00:51:30,250 --> 00:51:35,150
this woman. But rare here, when he says like

764
00:51:35,150 --> 00:51:38,970
physically, she's not that beautiful, probably

765
00:51:38,970 --> 00:51:42,750
he's here, she's rare because of her mind and her

766
00:51:42,750 --> 00:51:46,310
personality. But it's not clearly stated here.

767
00:51:46,450 --> 00:51:51,570
Could be implied because she is rare. Her love is

768
00:51:51,570 --> 00:51:56,210
rare. As any, she belied with false compare. She

769
00:51:56,210 --> 00:51:58,870
can't be compared to false things. These things

770
00:51:58,870 --> 00:52:03,050
are false, like you said. Who has eyes like the

771
00:52:03,050 --> 00:52:05,850
sun? But again, this is positive. This is

772
00:52:05,850 --> 00:52:11,390
metaphorically speaking. Now, the point I want to

773
00:52:11,390 --> 00:52:17,310
make about this sonnet being a parody, actually

774
00:52:17,310 --> 00:52:20,640
this is why I'm we're discussing this poem,

775
00:52:21,100 --> 00:52:23,960
basically for this parody part. And don't forget

776
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:28,340
that Shakespeare himself used some of these beauty

777
00:52:28,340 --> 00:52:33,920
standards to frame women, making this text also

778
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:34,920
self-parody.

779
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:39,880
So is Shakespeare mocking himself, making fun of

780
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:42,480
himself? Wow, he must have been very confident.

781
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:45,340
He's writing something and he's also parodying

782
00:52:45,340 --> 00:52:46,840
himself, making fun of himself. He doesn't wait

783
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:51,700
for others to mock him. He's mocking himself. But

784
00:52:51,700 --> 00:52:54,800
also mocking what we call courtly love.

785
00:52:58,220 --> 00:53:02,520
Traditional courtly love, the way it was, the way

786
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:05,400
women were perceived and represented in this kind

787
00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:11,420
of love. And yes, parody can be comic and funny,

788
00:53:11,700 --> 00:53:15,200
sarcastic sometimes. We'll see in John Donne how

789
00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:20,840
parody can be also a very serious genre. Extremely

790
00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:24,840
serious. Not only about the message, it's just, it

791
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:27,480
destroys. Nowadays we see the comedy shows. Look

792
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:32,120
at the American politics. Every night you have

793
00:53:32,120 --> 00:53:37,760
like so many comedy shows. The news is now comic,

794
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:44,320
because comedy, parody, these genres, they number

795
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:47,020
one, draw our attention to the fact that there is

796
00:53:47,020 --> 00:53:49,460
an alternative, there is a possibility of another

797
00:53:49,460 --> 00:53:52,060
reality, that this reality is not fixed, that you

798
00:53:52,060 --> 00:53:55,140
can change it. I'm showing you in my poetry, in

799
00:53:55,140 --> 00:54:00,240
my stand-up comedy. So what Shakespeare is doing

800
00:54:00,240 --> 00:54:04,000
is basically he is shattering, he is destroying

801
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:10,160
the mainstream standards and frames of beauty. He's

802
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:13,440
showing women and people that there are other

803
00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:15,660
alternatives, that there are other possibilities.

804
00:54:16,660 --> 00:54:21,040
He's inviting us by subverting, by turning the

805
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:27,960
standards of beauty upside down, giving us another

806
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,340
worldview that people probably didn't think of,

807
00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:37,240
outside probably poetry maybe. So that's why I

808
00:54:37,240 --> 00:54:40,720
take this as a serious, it sounds lighthearted,

809
00:54:41,260 --> 00:54:44,300
but if you examine it from a parody point of view,

810
00:54:44,600 --> 00:54:47,620
it sounds very serious. It sounds again like

811
00:54:47,620 --> 00:54:50,480
Shakespeare himself, who is doing the same thing,

812
00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:57,130
is trying to protest, or at least, attract women's

813
00:54:57,130 --> 00:54:58,790
attention to the fact that there are other

814
00:54:58,790 --> 00:55:01,110
possibilities, that you shouldn't be taking these

815
00:55:01,110 --> 00:55:04,010
frames for granted. You can change them. And

816
00:55:04,010 --> 00:55:07,590
that's why I highlighted these things: lips red,

817
00:55:08,090 --> 00:55:11,930
see eye, will I know, and again, how the poem came

818
00:55:11,930 --> 00:55:17,090
against our expectation. I think this subversion

819
00:55:17,090 --> 00:55:20,730
here, this change of the order, is an invitation

820
00:55:20,730 --> 00:55:24,680
that the existing order in the society, the social

821
00:55:24,680 --> 00:55:29,860
constructions of women, of beauty can be changed.

822
00:55:31,020 --> 00:55:34,600
And I also like how he used the word compare as a

823
00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:38,820
noun at the end. It should be with false

824
00:55:38,820 --> 00:55:43,280
comparison. I know compare can be used as a noun,

825
00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:47,720
but not a very common usage. I checked the Merriam

826
00:55:47,720 --> 00:55:50,080
-Webster for the etymology of the word and it

827
00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:52,100
says, and I find this very interesting, the first

828
00:55:52,100 --> 00:55:57,920
time it was used as a noun was 1589.

829
00:56:00,860 --> 00:56:04,400
Wow, that was like around the time Shakespeare was

830
00:56:04,400 --> 00:56:12,270
writing sonnets. So again, this is stretching, a

831
00:56:12,270 --> 00:56:14,990
lot of stretching, but did Shakespeare use the

832
00:56:14,990 --> 00:56:18,910
verb compare as a noun to indicate to women, to

833
00:56:18,910 --> 00:56:21,110
the audience, to readers that you can change

834
00:56:21,110 --> 00:56:23,490
things. You don't have to take things as they are.

835
00:56:23,750 --> 00:56:31,030
Here I am using verbs as nouns. Swapping the word

836
00:56:31,030 --> 00:56:34,090
order, using the noun before the adjective, and

837
00:56:34,090 --> 00:56:37,250
it's now your time to destroy again the given

838
00:56:37,250 --> 00:56:42,270
mainstream constructs of the society. Women don't

839
00:56:42,270 --> 00:56:44,930
have to be taken for granted. Women don't have to

840
00:56:44,930 --> 00:56:49,690
be taken in these frames imposed upon them by

841
00:56:49,690 --> 00:56:52,810
society and by men. This could be a lot of

842
00:56:52,810 --> 00:56:55,970
stretching. I want you to think of this in this

843
00:56:55,970 --> 00:56:58,650
slide as a parody. Shakespeare doing this stuff.

844
00:56:59,130 --> 00:56:59,330
Please.

845
00:57:15,010 --> 00:57:17,930
And again taking women for granted, for like even

846
00:57:17,930 --> 00:57:19,850
if the woman doesn't have these things you'd be

847
00:57:19,850 --> 00:57:23,130
like, you know, he would be tricked into a

848
00:57:23,130 --> 00:57:23,830
particular thing.

849
00:57:33,770 --> 00:57:37,930
But again, what is beauty? Don't forget this. What

850
00:57:37,930 --> 00:57:38,630
is beauty?

851
00:57:45,470 --> 00:57:47,290
No, but I'm saying that because this is a

852
00:57:47,290 --> 00:57:50,310
significant point. Beauty, there's nothing like,

853
00:57:50,790 --> 00:57:55,970
again, like in Arabic we say, and it's the same

854
00:57:55,970 --> 00:58:00,490
here. Like every woman sees her kid as the most

855
00:58:00,490 --> 00:58:05,930
beautiful kid. Not only because he or she is the

856
00:58:05,930 --> 00:58:11,390
kid, but because beauty is relative. It's not

857
00:58:11,390 --> 00:58:14,710
fixed. The standards are not fixed. The society

858
00:58:14,71

889
01:00:37,150 --> 01:00:42,150
serious, or there is nothing happening there. Look

890
01:00:42,150 --> 01:00:44,630
at these questions. I want you to think about them

891
01:00:44,630 --> 01:00:49,950
when you go home. We'll share; we can discuss some

892
01:00:49,950 --> 01:00:54,270
of them on our Facebook group. How can this be

893
01:00:54,270 --> 01:00:57,110
taken as a parody or self-parody?

894
01:01:00,210 --> 01:01:04,610
What does that tell us about Shakespeare? Again, this

895
01:01:04,610 --> 01:01:07,070
is like he's being a social critic and also a

896
01:01:07,070 --> 01:01:11,470
literary critic. See the point? He's being a

897
01:01:11,470 --> 01:01:14,610
literary critic. As if, again, he's saying that,

898
01:01:14,970 --> 01:01:18,470
stop doing this in your sonnets, come on. In his

899
01:01:18,470 --> 01:01:22,390
own way. He goes back to something else. How would

900
01:01:22,390 --> 01:01:24,830
a woman feel reading this? Would a woman feel

901
01:01:24,830 --> 01:01:27,110
comfortable, uncomfortable? And I like how you

902
01:01:27,110 --> 01:01:30,250
give me different opinions. Again, whatever

903
01:01:30,250 --> 01:01:33,370
opinion you believe in, just go for it, support it

904
01:01:33,370 --> 01:01:35,010
with textual evidence, and you're good to go.

905
01:01:36,130 --> 01:01:37,610
Where is the woman in the text? And this is the

906
01:01:37,610 --> 01:01:40,610
point I want to go back to. The huge difference

907
01:01:40,610 --> 01:01:42,530
between "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day,"

908
01:01:42,530 --> 01:01:44,950
one of the major differences: "Shall I compare thee

909
01:01:44,950 --> 01:01:48,850
to a summer's day" and "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"?

910
01:01:52,870 --> 01:01:57,630
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Say again?

911
01:02:00,410 --> 01:02:04,050
We don't have the woman here.

912
01:02:06,830 --> 01:02:08,850
Okay. What about this poem?

913
01:02:13,710 --> 01:02:17,970
What pronouns do you have here?

914
01:02:20,370 --> 01:02:26,370
Okay. What I feel is that in Sonnet 18, the woman is

915
01:02:26,370 --> 01:02:30,170
present. He's talking to her face. He's talking to

916
01:02:30,170 --> 01:02:37,310
her. "Shall I compare thee? Thou art" gives life to

917
01:02:37,310 --> 01:02:42,470
thee. Yes, she is silent or silenced. Probably

918
01:02:42,470 --> 01:02:45,150
Shakespeare is shushing her, like I'm shushing you

919
01:02:45,150 --> 01:02:49,250
now. But she is present because he's talking to

920
01:02:49,250 --> 01:02:51,890
her. Please, in any poem you read, look at the

921
01:02:51,890 --> 01:02:55,190
tenses, look at the pronouns. Try to locate and

922
01:02:55,190 --> 01:02:57,550
position the speaker and to examine who the

923
01:02:57,550 --> 01:03:01,750
addressee is. In Sonnet 18, the woman is there, at

924
01:03:01,750 --> 01:03:05,770
least fictionally speaking. In Sonnet 130, the

925
01:03:05,770 --> 01:03:09,210
woman is not there. She is absent and also silent

926
01:03:09,210 --> 01:03:13,670
or silenced. So he's using the third-person

927
01:03:13,670 --> 01:03:19,270
pronouns here: "she," "her eyes," "she," "she," "she." She's

928
01:03:19,270 --> 01:03:22,850
absent, and again, what does this...what does this say

929
01:03:22,850 --> 01:03:27,550
about the...the whole sonnet, like, you know, uh...uh...he

930
01:03:27,550 --> 01:03:30,630
he...he can't even stand in front of her and read

931
01:03:30,630 --> 01:03:33,610
the poem, recite the poem. Does he know that she's

932
01:03:33,610 --> 01:03:36,890
going to...I don't know...punch him if he says that

933
01:03:36,890 --> 01:03:39,310
this is offensive? He cares about her, and he does

934
01:03:39,310 --> 01:03:42,780
not want to say all these things to her face. But

935
01:03:42,780 --> 01:03:45,160
it's even worse if he's saying it behind her back,

936
01:03:45,320 --> 01:03:48,440
like, who's he saying this to? Her mother-in-law?

937
01:03:52,520 --> 01:03:56,340
I want you to think of this: why is the woman

938
01:03:56,340 --> 01:04:04,850
absent, totally absent? Okay, nice, nice. Where is

939
01:04:04,850 --> 01:04:07,830
the woman in the poem? Is that enough? I want you

940
01:04:07,830 --> 01:04:12,530
to try to see how the sonnet turns at the couplet

941
01:04:12,530 --> 01:04:15,850
there. I'll just go through this very quickly. We

942
01:04:15,850 --> 01:04:19,530
can comment on this online. So parody: Shakespeare

943
01:04:19,530 --> 01:04:24,990
here is turning traditional standards of beauty on

944
01:04:24,990 --> 01:04:29,670
their head. Not *in*, on their head. He's turning

945
01:04:29,670 --> 01:04:35,430
things upside down. Inside out, trying to change

946
01:04:35,430 --> 01:04:39,730
the social constructs. The beloved's imperfections

947
01:04:39,730 --> 01:04:43,130
here, rather than her perfections, are highlighted

948
01:04:43,130 --> 01:04:47,090
and emphasized. Idealistic love, it seems, like

949
01:04:47,090 --> 01:04:49,170
courtly love, is being mocked.

950
01:04:52,050 --> 01:04:55,690
which again breaks new ground. If Shakespeare is

951
01:04:55,690 --> 01:04:57,910
again assuming the role of a social critic and a

952
01:04:57,910 --> 01:04:59,970
literary critic, that is really interesting. Can

953
01:04:59,970 --> 01:05:03,490
we find more of this in Shakespeare? Because, by

954
01:05:03,490 --> 01:05:05,830
the way, if you go to *Hamlet*, Shakespeare always

955
01:05:05,830 --> 01:05:09,450
makes fun of himself because he was always accused

956
01:05:09,450 --> 01:05:14,130
of having these long monologues, boring speeches,

957
01:05:14,410 --> 01:05:16,910
et cetera. In *Hamlet*, you'll find many times

958
01:05:16,910 --> 01:05:19,670
Shakespeare making fun of himself as a

959
01:05:19,670 --> 01:05:23,230
playwright. So this is significant to me. Breaks

960
01:05:23,230 --> 01:05:25,570
new ground and allows people to reconsider the

961
01:05:25,570 --> 01:05:29,390
social constructs imposed upon them by offering a

962
01:05:29,390 --> 01:05:33,550
possibility, a new worldview. And this is parody,

963
01:05:34,050 --> 01:05:38,510
not always comic. We'll see this later on. So we

964
01:05:38,510 --> 01:05:41,370
go back to the sonnet, just to summarize in two

965
01:05:41,370 --> 01:05:45,750
minutes. Fourteen lines, love poem, Italy,

966
01:05:46,290 --> 01:05:48,790
Petrarch. You know, I was surprised that "Petrarch"

967
01:05:48,790 --> 01:05:51,970
doesn't end in a vowel, like almost all Italian

968
01:05:51,970 --> 01:05:55,390
words. And I assume that this man is originally, I

969
01:05:55,390 --> 01:05:59,250
don't know, an Arab, because it turns out that in

970
01:05:59,250 --> 01:06:03,490
Italian he is Petrarch. So still we go back to the

971
01:06:03,490 --> 01:06:08,010
beautiful Italian vowel at the end. And Dante,

972
01:06:08,170 --> 01:06:11,390
14th century; the sonnet migrated to England by,

973
01:06:11,590 --> 01:06:13,630
and it was brought by Henry Howard and Sir Thomas

974
01:06:13,630 --> 01:06:17,850
Wyatt in the 16th century. The Petrarchan, the

975
01:06:17,850 --> 01:06:20,910
Petrarchan sonnet, just as a reminder, has two

976
01:06:20,910 --> 01:06:24,510
parts: the octave, eight-line stanzas; the sextet,

977
01:06:24,690 --> 01:06:27,990
six-line stanzas; and the rhyme scheme here, we

978
01:06:27,990 --> 01:06:29,690
have the octave presenting the crisis, the

979
01:06:29,690 --> 01:06:34,970
dilemma, and the sextet trying to make sense of the

980
01:06:34,970 --> 01:06:40,990
world, present a closure or a resolution. With

981
01:06:40,990 --> 01:06:44,740
Shakespeare, however, a sonnet rhymes differently: A

982
01:06:44,740 --> 01:06:49,660
B A B C D C D E F E F G G. With Shakespeare, get to G G

983
01:06:49,660 --> 01:06:51,560
and you're fine. No G G, no Shakespeare.

984
01:06:52,380 --> 01:06:54,480
Shakespeare's sonnets consist of three quatrains

985
01:06:54,480 --> 01:06:58,360
and one couplet. Sometimes line nine is the volta

986
01:06:58,360 --> 01:07:00,960
or the twist, and sometimes the couplet itself is

987
01:07:00,960 --> 01:07:06,380
the twist. Ten syllables, five feet per line.

988
01:07:07,190 --> 01:07:12,170
Iambic pentameter like 95% of the time, or 90% of

989
01:07:12,170 --> 01:07:16,910
the time. The iambic pentameter is similar to the

990
01:07:16,910 --> 01:07:19,190
conversational tone of English, some people think.

991
01:07:19,290 --> 01:07:22,010
That's why almost 80% of English poetry—this is a

992
01:07:22,010 --> 01:07:25,470
number I just made up—is iambic pentameter. The

993
01:07:25,470 --> 01:07:28,510
sonnets usually develop an idea in each of the

994
01:07:28,510 --> 01:07:32,170
three quatrains, and then the rhyming couplet

995
01:07:32,170 --> 01:07:34,610
offers a closure or a resolution.

996
01:07:37,920 --> 01:07:40,020
There are so many themes in Shakespeare, and that's

997
01:07:40,020 --> 01:07:42,200
why Shakespeare not only experimented on the form

998
01:07:42,200 --> 01:07:45,740
and the rhyme scheme; he tried to expand the themes

999
01:07:45,740 --> 01:07:50,160
themselves, not only pure love, the woman, and how she

1000
01:07:50,160 --> 01:07:53,560
behaves and how she looks, to include time,

1001
01:07:53,740 --> 01:07:56,420
mortality, immortality, the transience of beauty,

1002
01:07:56,620 --> 01:07:59,020
the lawlessness of life, the destructiveness of nature,

1003
01:07:59,160 --> 01:08:02,300
the inevitability of death, the immortality of art, and

1004
01:08:02,300 --> 01:08:07,550
his poetry, which is really interesting. Going to

1005
01:08:07,550 --> 01:08:10,630
the form: the sonnet's form is rigid, and "rigid" not

1006
01:08:10,630 --> 01:08:13,690
in a negative way here, like it's very strict;

1007
01:08:13,850 --> 01:08:16,230
it's highly calculated, something that allows the

1008
01:08:16,230 --> 01:08:19,050
poet to focus his topic or her topic, of course.

1009
01:08:20,130 --> 01:08:23,370
Basically, the highly calculated structure brings

1010
01:08:23,370 --> 01:08:26,290
order to the disorder of life, tries to control

1011
01:08:26,290 --> 01:08:31,060
the uncontrollable. It says, next, sometimes the

1012
01:08:31,060 --> 01:08:34,060
neatness of the sonnet presents a stark contrast

1013
01:08:34,060 --> 01:08:37,000
to the harsh reality. It's neat; it's ordered; it's

1014
01:08:37,000 --> 01:08:41,920
organized, but reality is harsh and tough. So it

1015
01:08:41,920 --> 01:08:45,160
presents a stark contrast to the harsh reality of

1016
01:08:45,160 --> 01:08:48,180
life that does not conform to an ordered pattern.

1017
01:08:50,100 --> 01:08:55,380
honor beauty or respect genius. Life does not

1018
01:08:55,380 --> 01:08:59,480
conform to order. Life does not honor beauty. Life

1019
01:08:59,480 --> 01:09:01,680
does not respect genius. And that's why

1020
01:09:01,680 --> 01:09:04,920
Shakespeare is trying to confront this. I should

1021
01:09:04,920 --> 01:09:08,810
live forever. And he does, in his poetry. The form

1022
01:09:08,810 --> 01:09:13,170
requires compression of ideas in such a way where

1023
01:09:13,170 --> 01:09:17,150
the topic is highly intensified. And this is

1024
01:09:17,150 --> 01:09:24,470
finally what I wanted to say about the sonnet. We

1025
01:09:24,470 --> 01:09:27,450
will keep going back to the sonnet. I'll stop

1026
01:09:27,450 --> 01:09:31,610
here. Next class we have Christopher Marlowe's *The

1027
01:09:31,610 --> 01:09:34,550
Passionate Shepherd*. A very interesting poem.

1028
01:09:35,090 --> 01:09:37,510
We're still doing Renaissance poetry. Thank you.

1029
01:09:37,570 --> 01:09:41,250
If you have questions, please stay behind.