oh god they are so BORING. and not even the kind of boring where at first glance you're like 'whatever' and then when you look into them and learn about them they suddenly become fascinating because you understand them.

case in point: this semester i'm taking a compulsory paper on the sonnets. i need to pass it in order to graduate at the end of this year. i've been studying english lit for three years now. my lecturer is a good guy and relatively interesting. but the poetry is so DENSE and STODGY and i fucking HATE IT.

help me guys. i have seven weeks left to truly understand the beauty of what are supposed to be some of the most amazing literary works ever written. i want to shoot myself whenever i have to go to this class right now.

__________________

i wish i could help.
as wonderful as shakespear is and all that i could never read any of his books. unless someone were to like disecct them and post a 'shakespeare fer dumbdumbz' book.

too dull, and old english is not my thing.

if anything i can sympathize.
good luck with that, man.

__________________
My mind is like a plastic bag.

solution - you can sit my old english paper, and i'll do the sonnets paper for you. also, a good way to look at shakespeare is to consider who *some* scholars believe they were written to - his uncle.

no dice. considering i dropped a middle english paper for this one. URGH. what a foooool.

his uncle? really? that's fkn dirty.

__________________

really?
i studied them at one point, and i thought they were very interesting. exactly the way you stated above: they were boring at first, and then the more i learned about them, the more interesting they were.
maybe that's just me though.. sometimes i have really boring interests.

When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O! love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.
----------------------------------------------------
This was always my favourite one...

a-fucking-men. people stare at me in horror when i tell them i don't love shakespeare. i mean, i don't even like poetry that much, so shakespeare + poetry = ewwwwwww. to me anyway.

although i do like this one sonnet. where he parodies the lovey dovey ones. i forgot what it's called but there's something about her chest being "dun coloured" which is so gross but so funny at the same time.

haha. i love shakespeare's plays. like really. so it's not even a shakespeare thing. it's just the sonnets. really. they blow.

also louise: why for art thou not on msn?

__________________

lol sorry, just signing in now.

i really enjoy the sonnets, not sure why.
i may be wrong, so don't quote me, but shakespeare directed his sonnets toward two people, and one was a male. right? traditionally the sonnets were written for only one person, an idealised woman usually, over an extended period of time.
it's fun reading them when you know he is actually making fun of the traditional sonnets.

anyway, this is one that i quite like.

SONNET 53
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the spring and foison of the year;
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessed shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.

__________________

Maybe you could send him like a coat hanger or soup mix in the mail with a post it-
"when you paint with your eyes closed, you never become picasso, you just become an ironic narcissist with uncomfortable shades".
Throwing people off is thrilling.

-ktlr

i'm doing a stage three uni paper on this atm so i know about the sonnet context and the 'dark lady' and the 'fair friend' (or whatev. you want to call them) ... i need something else guys! tell me more...

__________________

Ah I'm a sucker for his sonnets too.

what do you love so much about them?

__________________

The way he had with words..and how sometimes he poked fun at things.

yeah i was reluctant to post because i figured you'd know more.
........maybe it's a lost cause

__________________

Maybe you could send him like a coat hanger or soup mix in the mail with a post it-
"when you paint with your eyes closed, you never become picasso, you just become an ironic narcissist with uncomfortable shades".
Throwing people off is thrilling.

-ktlr

i'd rather you guys like, posted yr fave sonnet and got really EXCITED about it. the language or whatever! get all passionate and rant and shit. because its an enthusiasm problem im suffering from.

__________________

lots of them have a mocking tone or even a desperation...usually they should be all about love but in the one I love he slams it and says that love is fleeting and that he knows that the girls is lying and flattering him eventhough you get the feeling he is old and gross and she is young and could do better...jaded and semi jilted

Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving. (142)

I did a module on ol' Shakey at Honors level and ended up doing an essay on the Sonnets. I can't really remember what I wrote about though. I like to imagine the relationship the speaker is having with the person he's addressing as I'm reading them, I like the fact that there's so much mystery about who they were written for/about and I also like that whenever you scratch the surface of Elizabethan/Jacobean literature you just find pure filth

In terms of enthusiasm, as soon as something is compulsary that takes away part of the joy, well for me anyway. When I knew I had to do a certain peice of work or I'd fail I wouldn't be very excited about it.

I love shakespeare and i love poetry so his sonnets are like orgasms to me, but in my english classes in college, a lot of people struggled with them. my tutor always said that you are free to hate shakespeare and write about that dislike in the exam/ essay, so long as you can justify why you dont like the work.

Learn the technicalities of the poems; the sonnet's rythms and rhymmes and how they hve influenced other poets to write in similar styles (see Elizabeth barret browning) Try and understand WHY the poems are so popular.

Then look at what the poems are trying to say. Do some research into the life of shakespeare (you wont find much- not a lot is known about him but research into some conspiracy theories that shakespeare isnt just one man, but a collaboration of a group of men and women {including frances bacon fyi} Extensive knowledge and arguments will back your opinion that you dont like the sonnets) Once you have bit of background info, look again at the context of the sonnets. Have they changed?

Ask people who love the sonnets, why they love the sonnets, to give you a fresh perspective. For me, i love the whimsy and romance of the sonnets and i always imagine shakespeare reading them with a slight sneer on his lips, because most of the sonnets are actually pretty funny and sarcastic.

I hope that helps a little bit.