Shakespeares poems

im thinking about using shakespeares sonnet 29 in my upcoming exam as an example of a poem which traditionally sticks to the sonnet form, i.e. it is a poem about love.
however iv been reading around and apparently its fairly widely accepted that the poem may be abou shakespeare's patron, so about money rather than love.
one would only be aware of this if they know alot about the background of the poem. so could i still argue that it is about love, ignore this background, and purely read from the poem. or will i be marked down for not accurately understanding the meaning.
any advice helpful, thanx

Reply 1

Tyler Durden

I don't think ignoring the background is a particularly good idea. I've just read it, and the monetary imagery is really quite striking. I would try to emphasise the tension between the readings. Also looking at the syntactical features might prove interesting.

Reply 2

etherised

Yes, I agree. It's a bit tenuous as to who sonnet 29 is actually directed to. Is there any reason why you're particularly hung up on that one? There are many more that are about love in a more direct way.

Reply 3

chel

ive chosen this poem as i am doing a comparison with the Wilfred Owen poem 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', i need poems which use the sonnet form in different ways and these ones jumped out because despite the contrasting subject matter there are some really striking parallels in there language and imagery.
Thing is its an exam so your not suppose to do a lot of background research for the poems you choose your just suppose to have an idea which ones to do then do the essay when your in there. Also we'v never studied shakespeare so its likely that alot of people wouldnt know much about his life anyway. My reading would come wholly from the text and what the language etc suggests rather than what i know from background research. this cant lose me marks can it? knowing my luck it probably can :frown:

Reply 4

J.K.

If you were to read Roland Barthes' essay 'The Death of the Author' and apply that theory in your response to the sonnet, you might be able to carry off ignoring the context. Shakespeare is being much more ambiguous about his subject matter, compared to Owen, so context is arguably less relevant. But I wouldn't recommend it; in the time it'd take to think out a strong argument you could easily read up on Shakespeare's context, anyway.

Reply 5

Da Bachtopus

chel

a poem which traditionally sticks to the sonnet form, i.e. it is a poem about love.

Not all sonnets are about love.

Reply 6

chel

Da Bachtopus

Not all sonnets are about love.

I realise that thanx!! :mad:

the point of my essay is that entirely. it is commonly thought (obv by ppl not studying english)that sonnets are love poems. i needed a poem which complied with this stereotype and one that did not

Reply 7

Tyler Durden

Use something which is actually properly about love then; one of Sidney's from Astrophil and Stella would do. The Shakespeare is to do with love (but also seems heavily caught up in the financial images of patronage etc). Even amongst Shakespeare's there are sonnets more ostentatiously to do with love.