Sonnet 33

Hallmarks of the Renaissance era

• Sonnet form
• series of sonnets
• Imagery
• Themes of love
• dedicated poems

Attitude

The speaker is not necessarily Shakespeare despite the 1st person narrative ¨I¨.

The intended audience is assumed to be Shakespeare´s Patron.

Tone:

Hurt and Forgiving

Biblography

Works Cited

Brookshire, Sophia. "Easy Literature Notes: Analysis of William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 33: Full Many a Glorious Morning Have I Seen"" Easy Literature Notes: Analysis of William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 33: Full Many a Glorious Morning Have I Seen" N.p., 14 July 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

Dawkins, Peter. "Shakespeare Patronage." Shakespeare Patronage. The Francis Baccon Research Trust, July 2005. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

Delahoyde, Micheal. "Renaissance Sonnets." Renaissance Sonnets. Washington State Niversity, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

"The Life of William Shakespeare (1564–1616)." The Life of William Shakespeare (1564–1616). National Endowment for the Arts, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

Mabillard, Amanda. "William Shakespeare-Sonnet 33." Shakespeare Online. N.p., 8 Dec. 2008. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

"Shakespeare FAQ." Shakespeare FAQ at Absolute Shakespeare. Absolute Shakespeare, 2000-2005. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

"Shakespeare´s Sonnets." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

"William Shakespeare - Sonnet 33." Impracticalcriticism. The Twenty Eleven Theme-Word Press, 05 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

Shifts

2 shifts

Rhyme and Form

First and second quatrains: shift from the positive qualities to the negative qualities of the beloved.

Before the couplet: there is another shift to a tone of forgiveness.

Themes

Shakespearean Sonnet:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

iambic pentameter

Three quatrains with a rhyming couplet at the end.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Love and Disappointment

Forgiveness

Nature Imagery Celestial Imagery

Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;

Anon permit the basest clouds to ride

With ugly rack on his celestial face,

And from the forlorn world his visage hide,

Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

Even so my sun one early morn did shine

With all triumphant splendor on my brow;

But out! alack! he was but one hour mine,

The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Some important words....

Sonnet 33

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy

With ugly rack on his celestial face,

Gilding: giving an attractive but often deceptive appearance to something

Alchemy: medieval chemistry that is cheifly concerned with the efforts to turn ordinary metal to gold

Figurative Language

Clouds are a metaphor for the pain the beloved caused the speaker

Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;

Anon permit the basest clouds to ride

With ugly rack on his celestial face,

And from the forlorn world his visage hide,

Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

Even so my sun one early morn did shine,

With all triumphant splendour on my brow;

But out, alack, he was but one hour mine,

The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Figurative Language

Sun is an extended metaphor for ¨the beloved¨ in the poem.

Background

William Shakespeare-Born April 1564.

Stratford-Upon-Avon, England

Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;

Anon permit the basest clouds to ride

With ugly rack on his celestial face,

And from the forlorn world his visage hide,

Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

Even so my sun one early morn did shine,

With all triumphant splendour on my brow;

But out, alack, he was but one hour mine,

The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Shakespeare wrote and acted in over 100 plays and sonnets during his lifetime. As most playwrights of the age he required a patron.

At the time of Sonnet 33, the Earl of Southampton was his patron.

Sonnet 33 was part of a series of 154 sonnets, presumably written for the Earl.

Paraphrase

I have seen many beautiful mornings. Still one morning the sun shined

Shining on the tops of the mountains With victorious magnificence on my face

Making the meadows brighter with its light Unfortunately he was only here for an hour

Giving the stream a golden sheen with divine science Now, the cloud hid him from me

At noon, dark clouds appeared However, my affection for him has not

lessened

To cover up the sun The people of the world will be sad

when the divine son leaves.

And hide his face from the sad world

Running covertly away to the west with his shame