Reading Shakespeare: Is Shakespeare Our Contemporary?

[Sonnet 130]

On the blackboard:

to flatter sb to praise smb. insincerely

high-flown высокопарный

trite not new, commonplace, banal

a cliché [‘kli∫ei] a stereotyped phrase

an innovator person introducing new ideas

to stick (stuck) to sth to be faithful to one’s belief that sth is true

the Dark Lady of Sonnets смуглая леди сонетов

Teacher: You have read about Shakespeare, Britain’s greatest literary genius. He wrote in many genres: drama, poetry, the historical chronicle, etc.

One of his greatest achievements were his sonnets. He wrote 154 sonnets and critics say that if he hadn’t written anything else, he still would be the greatest man of letters in Britain.

His sonnets can be roughly divided into 2 groups: some of them are addressed to a lady he loved and the others to his friend. Nobody knows their names and for more than 300 years critics have tried to find out who those two people were. They even invented a name for the lady: the dark lady of sonnets.

But actually their real names don’t matter because love and friendship have not changed much since Shakespeare’s time. And everything he said about his love and about his friendship is still true for anybody who’s in love and anybody who’s got a friend.

Today we’ll get acquainted with one of his sonnets, Sonnet 130, which is, perhaps, the most famous one.

The teacher hands out the card.

Teacher: Turn to the card, read the sonnet and say what, in your view, Shakespeare wanted to say about his mistress.

The pupils are given 3 minutes to read the sonnet.

Pupils: She is a usual woman but still she is beautiful.

Teacher: Listen to my reading of the sonnet.

The teacher reads the sonnet.

Teacher: What do you know about the poetry of the 16th century?

The teacher delivers this short talk pointing the new words out on the blackboard.

At that time it was fashionable to flatter women by comparing them to the most beautiful things in this world. It was believed that high-flown comparisons added to a woman’s beauty and showed how much the poet loved her. That is why a lot of trite comparisons travelled from one poem to another. It became a must to say that woman’s eyes were like the sun; that her cheeks were like roses, etc.

All these comparisons became clichés and so sounded extremely tiring.

Teacher: Turn to the sonnet; find the examples of trite comparisons.

eyes like the sun

lips red as coral

breasts white as snow

cheeks like damask’d roses

breath like perfume

speech like music

she walks like a goddess

Teacher: What do you think about these comparisons? Are they vivid? Ladies, would you be really pleased to hear such comparisons addressed to yourselves? Gentlemen, do you believe your girls would really appreciate such compliments? Why not? Do they arouse any emotions in you?

Pupils: These comparisons are so trite that they don’t stir out imagination any more.

Teacher: What does Shakespeare tell us about his lady-love in the sonnet?

Pupils: That all these comparisons aren’t true if we speak about her

Teacher: Do you agree that it seems an anti-flattering sonnet? Actually Shakespeare informs us that his mistress is quite an ordinary woman. Do you think he loves her? (the last 2 lines)

Teacher: Listen to the Russian variant of the sonnet (translated by Marshak).

The teacher reads the Russian variant.

Teacher: How was Shakespeare an innovator in poetry?

Pupils: He refused to use clichés.

He stuck to his ideal of truthfulness.

He believed that human beings had their own beauty and needn’t borrow it from nature.

Teacher: Do you share Shakespeare’s ideas about beauty? Do you believe Shakespeare is our contemporary in understanding love and beauty?

Teacher: Turn to the bottom of the card. There you can see an outline for an essay on Shakespeare.

The teacher distributes the essay items among pupils: Group 1 – N1; Group 2 – N2; Group 3 – NN3,4.

The pupils are given 3 minutes to prepare a short talk on their issue.

Note. Actually, it’s essential to listen only to NN 1, 2 as NN 3, 4 are personal opinion pieces so they don’t contain facts and pupils are supposed to be able to cope with them.

Home Task

1. Card A: Learn the poem by heart.

2. Card B: Write an essay.

A: Read a sonnet by Shakespeare

Sonnet CXXX

My mistress’=lover’s eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be =is white, why then her breasts are dun =greyish-brown;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d =bright pink, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks =comes gives off strong odor.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath =has a far more pleasing sound;
I grant =agree I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare =wonderful, unusual
As any she =lady, woman belied =given a wrong idea of with false compare.

B: Write an essay on the topic Shakespeare: Our Contemporary? (about 200 words)

Use the following outline and the key words below:

1. What was a usual practice in poetry before Shakespeare? Give some examples.

2. How was Shakespeare an innovator in poetry? What was his ideal of beauty?

3. Do you share Shakespeare’s attitude to truthfulness in poetry?

4. Do you believe Shakespeare is our contemporary in his understanding of love and beauty?

Key Words

to flatter sb = to praise smb insincerely in order to please

high-flown = pretentious

trite = not new, commonplace

a cliché [‘kli:∫ei]= a stereotyped phrase

an innovator = a person who introduces new ideas

to stick (stuck) to sth = to be faithful to one’s belief that …

to refuse to use clichés

to stick to his ideal of truthfulness

to believe firmly that…

to possess their own beauty

not to need to borrow beauty from nature