All the Sonnets of Shakespeare

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare | William Shakespeare

pick

After I finished the Sonnets, I kept reading this book, rereading the Sonnets in the odd ordering here, but at a rapid pace. I finished this week. #shakespearereadalong

This edition deconstructs the narrative under the sonnets, reordering them in what might be the order of actual composition. And adding sonnets from the plays. It's terribly destructive, but also forces us to look at each sonnet differently, which is actually really nice. 👇

Graywacke The editors do two wonderful things: For each poem they give a one-line explanation/synopsis. And then in the back they present the whole poem in plain words. This is crazy helpful. But, oddly, their notes on specific words and phrases are terribly done. Anyway, I'm glad I had this version, but very grateful I also had a different version too (with the correct ordering and with high-end notes). (edited) 2y

64 likes1 stack add1 comment

Graywacke

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare | William Shakespeare

Sonnet 124* - another on the permanence of love, here against time and chance. I love the phrase “Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gathered” for a metaphor for our fate‘s chances. And i love the phrase “Under the blow of thrallèd discontent”, warning us not be slaves to discontent, how easy it is.

(*I would say for the morning, but we are fairly balanced on opposite sides of this ?)

#shakespearereadalong

MrsMalaprop, TheBookHippie, batsy, GingerAntics

MrsMalaprop How cool is it that we are working our way through these together, from all around the world, 400-odd years after they were penned?! 2y

Graywacke @MrsMalaprop it‘s a beautiful thing. The power of Litsy! 💙 (and Shakespeare 🙂) 2y

batsy @MrsMalaprop Pretty wonderful 💕 2y

batsy Bonus points for paws and whiskers 😍🐈 2y

34 likes4 comments

Graywacke

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare | William Shakespeare

“Like widow‘d wombs after their lords‘ decrease” !!

Sonnet 97, with several choice lines, and Adam Duritz, because it reminds me of the song A Long December.

Synopsis from this book: Being away from you feels like winter, and even though it is summer and autumn, the best of the year is always where you are.

Readergrrl, MrsMalaprop, TheBookHippie, batsy, GingerAntics, MoonWitch94

TheBookHippie Oh I like this!! I got behind this week- catching up my daily reading today! 2y

batsy The imagery here is really something. The "teeming autumn", "wanton burthen of the prime" then the switch to "widow'd wombs". But also " What freezings have I felt"! Ice cold ... I can almost feel it myself. 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie it‘s just not easy to stay on pace! 2y

See All 8 Comments

Graywacke @batsy so true. I also hung on the hope of orphans and unfathered fruit - which is just brutal. And adds to quite a mix of responses to these lines. (He just decided he‘s going there in this one.) 2y

TheBookHippie @Graywacke This week has been a little kitty wompas... I have to make many decisions about this up coming school year......so my pros and cons list.....is taking my time!! 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie sounds stressful. Wish you well. 2y

MrsMalaprop Read these three sonnets about being separated from his muse last night. Didn‘t much enjoy the ‘widow‘s womb‘ imagery. 🙅‍♀️😆 2y

Graywacke @MrsMalaprop it‘s so wrong, and yet it‘s such a powerful, dark (multi-meaning) line. (edited) 2y

31 likes8 comments

Graywacke

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare | William Shakespeare

Sonnet 78 for day 5 of isolation.

Addressed to WS‘s own muse, jealously. Because, only for him, “thou art all my art”.

Synopsis in this book: Other poets are now being inspired by you because of me, and their work is getting even better, but you are everything to my poetry and make it fly.

#shakespearereadalong

Readergrrl, MrsMalaprop, TheBookHippie, batsy, GingerAntics, MoonWitch94

Readergrrl I frequently sit in amazement at Shakespeare‘s ability to collect words into lines that express an emotion or thought in just exactly the right way. How much time, how much thought, how much heart goes into each sonnet… awesome in the truest sense of the word. 2y

batsy I just read sonnet 75, which is one of my favourites for the moment for how it depicts the anxiety underlying the poet's devotion to the youth. His sonnets are so much like lovelorn pop songs. 2y

Graywacke @Readergrrl So true. Sometimes I‘m just amazed at the lines - sometimes he compresses so much into a single line, in an impossibly perfect way. 2y

Graywacke @batsy oh i did really love that one, Sonnet 75, food to life. Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day. … but now I‘m imagining this emotion in pop song with a pretty young boy band, and it‘s kind of making me smile and shake my head at the same time. 2y

CarolynM Sorry to hear you‘re in isolation. Hope you‘re not feeling too unwell💐💕 2y

34 likes5 comments

Graywacke

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare | William Shakespeare

Guess you can‘t really tell I‘m surrounded by mountains for the moment. I can only barely see them from this porch.

Sonnet 47
Synopsis here: My eyes and heart help each other in their loving appreciation of you, which means you are always with me, even when I dream.

“And so the painted picture bids my heart.” = since I can‘t see you, my heart creates an illusionary feast for my eyes to imagine you.

#shakespearereadalong

Readergrrl, MrsMalaprop, TheBookHippie, batsy, GingerAntics, MoonWitch94

DivineDiana Surrounded by mountains sounds wonderful! 2y

Readergrrl Lovely because that last couplet can infer either a missing loved one or a missing place. Surrounded by mountains, as you are, you might imagine how even a location can leave one with the same sense of longing as missing a beloved person. Imagining the place or the person is sometimes all we can do. 2y

batsy Reading the sonnets while surrounded by mountains is, as the kids say, #goals 🙂 Enjoy! 2y

See All 10 Comments

TheBookHippie I like this one and what a lovely place to read them! 2y

Graywacke @DivineDiana it‘s a nice change for us. Just a few days though. 2y

Graywacke @Readergrrl ok, I actually thought about my poor cat at home, the one whose been getting on my lap while I read these. ☺️ But also I like that, imagining a place your missing, the meaningful versatility of these… 2y

Graywacke @batsy 😁 I packed my pelican on a hike today, imagining my Petrarch moment with Shakespeare, but was too tired to read anything. I did take a picture. (Petrarch climbed a mountain and then on the mountain top read from his pocket St Augustine, and had a famous spiritual moment.) 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie a lovely place to read, absolutely. 2y

batsy @Graywacke Oooh, I did not know that about Petrarch! That's very cool and I'm very jealous of him, currently being unable to get out of overheated, overpolluted KL. Have patience, your Petrarch moment is coming 🙂⛰️ 2y

Graywacke @batsy KL and Houston have a lot in common. And I‘m bringing my Pelican again today. 🙂 2y

40 likes10 comments

Graywacke

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare | William Shakespeare

Sonnet 40, read out loud to my cat.

I‘ll post the sonnet‘s text in the comments.
#shakespearereadalong

Readergrrl, MrsMalaprop, TheBookHippie, batsy, GingerAntics, MoonWitch94

Graywacke Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all:
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call—
All mine was thine before thou hadst this more.
Then if for my love thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee for my love thou usest;
But yet be blamed if thou this self deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest. 2y

Graywacke I do forgive thy robb‘ry, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty;
And yet love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love‘s wrong than hate‘s known injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spites, yet we must not be foes. 2y

Graywacke Synopsis: why don‘t you just take away all the love I have? I forgive you, but love‘s deception is worse than straightforward hatred. (Lascivious grace: Pelican translates as (you who are) “gracious even in lechery”. This edition as: “oversexed charmer”) (edited) 2y

See All 13 Comments

TheBookHippie @Graywacke OH the synopsis!! SO GOOD. I am loving reading all these sonnets in all the many versions of publications that I have. 2y

RaeLovesToRead 😻😻😻 2y

Readergrrl Gracious even in lechery…. Love it! 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie I should post more synopses. They fun, except they oversimplify to a fault. Here WS suggests he shares a lover with this lover: “then if for my love thou my love recievest” Which might mean, here‘s my lover for you. Anyway, didn‘t make the synopsis. 🙂 2y

Graywacke @RaeLovesToRead he‘s feeling the love. Thanks! 2y

Graywacke @Readergrrl that struck me too, Lascivious grace. Quite a nickname. 2y

GingerAntics He seems to like this one much better. 2y

GingerAntics @Graywacke I‘m not sure if that‘s a positive nickname or a negative one. Hm. That really is quite a nickname. (edited) 2y

Graywacke @GingerAntics my kittie loved this one and loved the nickname. As for how to take the nickname, well it depends on the situation and perspective. I‘ll try to keep on open mind…for Will. 2y

GingerAntics @Graywacke that‘s usually the approach I take to weird Shakespearean issues. 😂 2y

47 likes13 comments

Sharv_Sona

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare | William Shakespeare

I recently made a trip to the library, and I may or may not have raided the poetry shelf. The ones I borrowed include, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Paradise Lost, and the Shakespeare Sonnets! I‘ve been really getting into poetry these days, finding the freeness of it intriguing. I‘m hoping I could learn a thing or two about writing them, a little summer project for me! :)

Reyzl Bravo 👏🏻 I don‘t read poetry often but, when I do, I really enjoy it. Last summer, I read my first Swedish poems and, even though it was harder than English, it was very moving. I guess that poetry has that magic that transcends even language at times. I loved the poem you wrote and I hope to see more 😍 2y

Sharv_Sona @Reyzl I truly believe that poetry is the freest form of writing as the words seem to glide like feathers in a late autumn breeze or like soft waves hugging the shore. This is why I‘ve fallen in love with poetry and as for the poem I wrote to you, I am filled with immense joy that you liked it, as it was my first poem. 😊 2y

Reyzl @Sharv_Sona I‘m truly honoured ❤️ 2y

9 likes3 comments