This is a basic introduction to sonnets and the play Much Ado about Nothing.

1. INTRODUCTION TO
SHAKESPEARE

 We will study the following:
 Sonnets
 Basic terms to remember
 Much ado about nothing
 by Linda Rubens

2. Born April 23, 1564 - Died April 23, 1616

3. Learning intentions

 In Shakespeare’s Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s
Day, the writer has perfected a comparison of
something he loves to another beautiful or enticing
object. For this assignment, students should
understand the workings of sonnets, and also draw
a similar comparison with something they love .
 After reviewing and analysing the original poem,
students will compose their own personal sonnet to
imitate, yet not copy, Shakespeare’s idea of bliss.

4. Flipped classwork

 Your prep before the next lesson is to read through
the sonnets and look for any characteristics that are
similar
 Eg: Look at sentence length
 number of sentences
 rhyme scheme…
Gathering

5. Shall I compare thee to a summers day
Sonnet 18 ( Petrarchan)

 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

6. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)
(Shakespearean)

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

7. Terms to remember:

Iambic pentameter: Unstressed/ stressed (U_)
Alternate rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg
Octet and sestet
Quatrain
Rhyming couplet
Petrarchan sonnets
Processing
Shakespearean sonnets

8. Success criteria

 Students should choose to EITHER write a serious
sonnet, comparing their love to something concrete
and tangible…as with Summer’s day. OR
 Write a sonnet as a parody, concluding with a
serious rhyming couplet.
Applying

9. Structure of
Shakespeare’s plays

 Act I: Introduction
 Act II: Rising action
 Act III: Climax
 Act IV: Falling action
 Act V: Denouement

10. Much Ado About Nothing
is a comedy

 Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a "merry war"; they
both talk a mile a minute and proclaim their scorn for
love, marriage and each other.
 In contrast, Claudio and Hero are sweet young people
who are rendered practically speechless by their love for
one another.
 “Nothing“ is a pun on "noting,“ which is gossip, rumour
and eavesdropping.
 Dogberry, a Constable is a master of malapropisms
 The villain is the bastard Don John.
 Don Pedro is the prince.

11. Now…

 View the film version of Much Ado about Nothing.
 THEN: It’s time to start reading Act I where we are
introduced to all the main characters.