Sonnet Activity 1: Learning from Nonsense
Read this poem by Lewis Carroll.
Jabberwocky
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-Lewis Carroll
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-Lewis Carroll
Instructions for Students: Summarize the action of this poem in 5 sentences on a 4X6 note card.
Sound Experiment 1
Try reading the poem two different ways:
Discuss the contrasting effects of these two styles of reading. Did anyone picture the scene being described? How can we understand and even visualize the events, if most of the words used to describe those events are nonsensical? How is meaning conveyed, if not by the literal meanings of words?
On the board, try to list the ways that a poem, particularly a poem read aloud, conveys its meaning. Note that one of the reasons the poem conveys meaning is that its nonsense words are not, in fact, complete nonsense, that they convey information because they correspond to recognizable parts of speech—nouns, verbs, adjectives.
Poetic meter is another kind of underlying form or structure in poetry that affects meaning.
Iambic meter refers to accentual feet of an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. To illustrate the sound and effect of iambic meter, read aloud stanzas five and six of "Jabberwocky"; notice that in one of the lines—"Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"—the iamb is reversed at the beginning. This reversed iamb is called a trochee. A good poet will always vary the meter, and that these variations contribute to meaning. How, for example, does the metrical variation in the line, "Come to my arms…," change the feeling of the line, and therefore contribute to its meaning? How does it enhance the story being told?
- Students will stand up and assume a bearing appropriate to the poem—boastful, pompous, as if recounting an exaggerated account of their own heroism, perhaps waving their imaginary vorpal swords in the air.
- Now sit down and hunch over the poem. Read as if you are recounting a horror story around a campfire. Speak in a raspy or creepy voice and fill your speech with dramatic pauses, gestures, grimaces, and wide-eyed staring to punctuate the tale of fear and terror.
Discuss the contrasting effects of these two styles of reading. Did anyone picture the scene being described? How can we understand and even visualize the events, if most of the words used to describe those events are nonsensical? How is meaning conveyed, if not by the literal meanings of words?
On the board, try to list the ways that a poem, particularly a poem read aloud, conveys its meaning. Note that one of the reasons the poem conveys meaning is that its nonsense words are not, in fact, complete nonsense, that they convey information because they correspond to recognizable parts of speech—nouns, verbs, adjectives.
Poetic meter is another kind of underlying form or structure in poetry that affects meaning.
Iambic meter refers to accentual feet of an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. To illustrate the sound and effect of iambic meter, read aloud stanzas five and six of "Jabberwocky"; notice that in one of the lines—"Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"—the iamb is reversed at the beginning. This reversed iamb is called a trochee. A good poet will always vary the meter, and that these variations contribute to meaning. How, for example, does the metrical variation in the line, "Come to my arms…," change the feeling of the line, and therefore contribute to its meaning? How does it enhance the story being told?
Sound Experiment 2
The purpose of this experiment is to demonstrate how meter is as much a matter of what we expect to hear as it an intrinsic property of the words themselves. Meter in English poetry, as we will see, has subjective as well objective aspects.
Let's start with the subjective aspects of meter. An example of a sound pattern that exists only in our minds is the tick-tock of clocks. Objectively, the sound might be a steady tick-tick-tick, but the pattern-loving human mind will hear tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. Another example: have you ever been kept awake by a dripping faucet that seemed to take on rhythmic pattern--drip, drop, drippety-drippety, drip, drop?
In a sense, the human mind is wired for poetry.
In the next experiment in sound, we will learn how that "surface" constitutes a second level of pattern:rhythm. As we will see in our experiments with the sounds of Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, a skilled poet is able to play meter and rhythm against each other in meaningful ways.
Let's start with the subjective aspects of meter. An example of a sound pattern that exists only in our minds is the tick-tock of clocks. Objectively, the sound might be a steady tick-tick-tick, but the pattern-loving human mind will hear tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. Another example: have you ever been kept awake by a dripping faucet that seemed to take on rhythmic pattern--drip, drop, drippety-drippety, drip, drop?
In a sense, the human mind is wired for poetry.
- To illustrate the role of pattern in our minds, we will reread (everyone at the same time) stanzas four and five while exaggerating the iambic meter (what Shakespearean actors call a "singsong" reading). The idea here is to imprint the pattern as strongly as possible in the minds of listeners.
- Next, Mrs. Haughaboo will reread the same stanzas with normal emphasis. This experiment can have some surprising effects!
- Discuss what effect hearing the poem read the second time had on listeners. Could they still "hear" the strong ta-DA of the iambic beat just below the surface.
In the next experiment in sound, we will learn how that "surface" constitutes a second level of pattern:rhythm. As we will see in our experiments with the sounds of Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, a skilled poet is able to play meter and rhythm against each other in meaningful ways.
Sonnet Activity 2: The Shakesperean Sonnet
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes (Sonnet 29)
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee--and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
-William Shakespeare
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee--and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
-William Shakespeare
Instructions: Students will read the poem silently, then ask questions about any unfamiliar words or syntax. As a class, we will discuss the literal meaning of the poem: what is happening? What is the speaker feeling? Where and why does that feeling change?
Sound Experiment 3
This one resembles the first sound experiment we did with "Jabberwocky."
Neither of these readings, of course, is entirely accurate. Discuss their different effects.
Now step back a bit and look at the text on the paper. What kinds of punctuation do you see? Where do the pauses fall? Which kind of pause do students think should be longest: semicolon, dash, or comma? If you look at the poem as a whole, could you divide pieces of it into stand alone sentences? Where would you make the division? Finally, look at lines 11 and 12: "Like to the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate." Notice that the syntax of the sentence runs over the end of line 11: point out to students that this is called enjambment. Again, have students note these features on their copy of the poem.
All the sentence and phrase level features we have been examining constitute the rhythm of the poem. Ordinary conversational speech has its own distinct rhythms, as do formal speeches or sports broadcasts or rap music. Rhythm, like meter, expresses meaning.
On a sheet of paper, compare the notes you made on the rhythm of the poem to the places where you found emotional shifts. What kinds of correspondences do you find? Write about them.
- First, stand up on your feet, assuming a defiant and boastful stance. All students should now read Sonnet 29 with as much bombast and triumph as possible.
- Now have students sit down and read the entire poem in a whisper. They should not read too quickly, and they should read as if they were very sad (perhaps punctuating their speech with heavy sighs).
Neither of these readings, of course, is entirely accurate. Discuss their different effects.
- Which one best fits the poem?
- Where are the places that do not fit one style of delivery or the other?
- Are there emotional shifts in the poem?
- If so, where are they, and how could a person reading aloud modulate his or her voice to express those shifts accurately, perhaps by combining aspects of the two delivery styles we practiced earlier?
- As you discuss particular lines or sections, ask your students to mark down the points at which these emotional shifts occur.
Now step back a bit and look at the text on the paper. What kinds of punctuation do you see? Where do the pauses fall? Which kind of pause do students think should be longest: semicolon, dash, or comma? If you look at the poem as a whole, could you divide pieces of it into stand alone sentences? Where would you make the division? Finally, look at lines 11 and 12: "Like to the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate." Notice that the syntax of the sentence runs over the end of line 11: point out to students that this is called enjambment. Again, have students note these features on their copy of the poem.
All the sentence and phrase level features we have been examining constitute the rhythm of the poem. Ordinary conversational speech has its own distinct rhythms, as do formal speeches or sports broadcasts or rap music. Rhythm, like meter, expresses meaning.
On a sheet of paper, compare the notes you made on the rhythm of the poem to the places where you found emotional shifts. What kinds of correspondences do you find? Write about them.
Sound Experiment 4
Now redo the exercise described in sound experiment 2, this time with Sonnet 29. The entire class will read the sonnet with an exaggerated emphasis on the iambic meter. (Before you read, look back over your notes about iambic pentameter: demonstrate the meaning of this term by writing one line of the sonnet on the board, and dividing it into five metrical feet.) Make sure to force the iambic ta DA, ta DA, even if it doesn't seem quite right for the line they are reading.
For it turns out that it difficult to read Sonnet 29 in this way, despite the fact that it's iambic pentameter.
The places where you may have stumbled, where you felt that you were forcing the iambic meter upon the words, probably indicates metrical variation. Such variation is employed for expressive purposes--and Shakespeare's meter is constantly varied (in fact, it is sometimes difficult to find lines of unvaried iambic pentameter).
As a class, try to locate the places of metrical variation in this poem, the places where you stumbled in your singsong reading. Now, look again at your notes on the rhythm of the poem and its emotional shifts. Is there any correspondence? Does metrical variation contribute to meaning in this poem? (Don't worry if you can't assign a meaning to every single variation-just keep these places in mind as you complete the next two experiments in sound.)
For it turns out that it difficult to read Sonnet 29 in this way, despite the fact that it's iambic pentameter.
- Where were places where it was hard to maintain the iambic meter?
- Was this harder or easier than reading Carroll's poem in an iambic "singsong"?
- What might account for the difference?
The places where you may have stumbled, where you felt that you were forcing the iambic meter upon the words, probably indicates metrical variation. Such variation is employed for expressive purposes--and Shakespeare's meter is constantly varied (in fact, it is sometimes difficult to find lines of unvaried iambic pentameter).
As a class, try to locate the places of metrical variation in this poem, the places where you stumbled in your singsong reading. Now, look again at your notes on the rhythm of the poem and its emotional shifts. Is there any correspondence? Does metrical variation contribute to meaning in this poem? (Don't worry if you can't assign a meaning to every single variation-just keep these places in mind as you complete the next two experiments in sound.)
Sound Experiment 5
Read the poem silently to yourselves. Try to imagine a voice not your own. It could be a deep male voice, or a woman's voice. You could even try to imagine Shakespeare's voice. The point is to imagine the sound of a voice and to try to really "hear" it in your mind. After everyone has had a chance to read through the sonnet in this way, discuss any discoveries they made about the sonnet. Could they hear the pauses, the rhythm, as well as the expressive variations in meter? Could they feel the places in the poem where an emotional shift occurred?
Now may be a good time to introduce some of the formal terms that are used to describe the structure of a sonnet—what makes the sonnet a sonnet and not something else? You might think of these as a third level of form, the foundation "beneath" the levels of meter and rhythm.
Make the distinction between a Shakespearean or English sonnet, which divides its 14 lines into three quatrains and a couplet, with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg; and a Petrarchan sonnet (the Italian original from which the English imitation was derived), which divides its 14 lines into an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, with the rhyme scheme abbaabba cdecde. An example of a Petrarchan sonnet, translated into English but retaining the Petrarchan rhyme scheme, is Thomas Wyatt's "The long love that in my heart doth harbor.
Petrarch's model had established the custom of presenting a problem, situation, or incident in the octave, followed by a resolution in the sestet. But English poets eventually developed a more flexible sonnet form which could be divided not only into octave and sestet, in the manner of Petrarch, but also into three quatrain-length variations on a theme followed by an epigrammatic couplet. Shakespeare uses this form, quatrains followed by couplet, to embody the nuances of shifting emotion and thought. On their copies of the poem, have students write letters corresponding to different line endings. Note how these groups of rhyme create quatrains. Draw lines indicating the divisions into quatrains and a final couplet. How does this form correspond to the shifts of rhythm, meter, and emotion that you detected earlier? How do sound and formal structure (the three quatrains followed by epigrammatic couplet) work together to produce an emotional effect on the reader?
Now may be a good time to introduce some of the formal terms that are used to describe the structure of a sonnet—what makes the sonnet a sonnet and not something else? You might think of these as a third level of form, the foundation "beneath" the levels of meter and rhythm.
Make the distinction between a Shakespearean or English sonnet, which divides its 14 lines into three quatrains and a couplet, with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg; and a Petrarchan sonnet (the Italian original from which the English imitation was derived), which divides its 14 lines into an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, with the rhyme scheme abbaabba cdecde. An example of a Petrarchan sonnet, translated into English but retaining the Petrarchan rhyme scheme, is Thomas Wyatt's "The long love that in my heart doth harbor.
Petrarch's model had established the custom of presenting a problem, situation, or incident in the octave, followed by a resolution in the sestet. But English poets eventually developed a more flexible sonnet form which could be divided not only into octave and sestet, in the manner of Petrarch, but also into three quatrain-length variations on a theme followed by an epigrammatic couplet. Shakespeare uses this form, quatrains followed by couplet, to embody the nuances of shifting emotion and thought. On their copies of the poem, have students write letters corresponding to different line endings. Note how these groups of rhyme create quatrains. Draw lines indicating the divisions into quatrains and a final couplet. How does this form correspond to the shifts of rhythm, meter, and emotion that you detected earlier? How do sound and formal structure (the three quatrains followed by epigrammatic couplet) work together to produce an emotional effect on the reader?
Sound Experiment 6
This exercise involves watching an online video, available from the Favorite Poem Project, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library. To view it, you will need to have "Real Player," which can be downloaded from the site; before sharing this with your students, make sure your school's computer has sufficient connection speed to play the video.
On the video, Daniel McCall, an 81-year-old retired anthropologist, speaks about how a poem he memorized when he was in seventh grade, Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, has stayed with him all his life. Sometimes there is a strange and wonderful alchemy between the performer of a poem and the poem itself. The poem takes on something of the personality of the speaker, and the personality of the speaker is revealed in the words of the poem. After speaking briefly about his life, Daniel McCall recites Sonnet 29, conveying to us a sense of words imbued with a lifetime of experience and feeling. (Just possibly, his example might inspire some students to memorize a sonnet themselves!)
On the video, Daniel McCall, an 81-year-old retired anthropologist, speaks about how a poem he memorized when he was in seventh grade, Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, has stayed with him all his life. Sometimes there is a strange and wonderful alchemy between the performer of a poem and the poem itself. The poem takes on something of the personality of the speaker, and the personality of the speaker is revealed in the words of the poem. After speaking briefly about his life, Daniel McCall recites Sonnet 29, conveying to us a sense of words imbued with a lifetime of experience and feeling. (Just possibly, his example might inspire some students to memorize a sonnet themselves!)
