Shakespeare Analysis
Course(s)/Subject(s): English 8
Grade Level(s): 8
Key Words: English, Technology, Shakespearean Sonnet Slide
Show
Developer(s) Name: Diana Vera
School: Carl Sandburg Middle School
Attached Files: (1) Slide Show
(2) sonnet
Approximate Time Frame: 6-7 Days
Materials/Equipment Needed: Library, Classroom, Computer Lab,
Scanner, ClarisWorks
Poetry book of Shakespeare Sonnets, The Complete Works of
Shakespeare, Internet
Description of Lesson (includes context):
This lesson should capitalize on the recent interest in the Bard.
When the young Shakespeare spots his Viola in the recent movie,
Shakespeare in Love, he is inspired to write a sonnet. The
sonnet is one of the favorite lyrical forms of poetry during the last
five centuries. The students will focus on the Shakespearian sonnet
as a form and analyze the sonnet in terms of structure, the
particular rhyme scheme of the quatrains and the rhyming couplet, the
rhythm of iambic pentameter, as well as any figurative language. The
analysis will be presented as a slide show of five slides. The
students will then render an oral presentation accompanied by their
slide show.
LESSON OUTLINE
1. What is the objective of this lesson?
POS Standards:
POS Benchmarks:
POS Indicators:
Standard 1-Students read and write a variety of forms.
Benchmark 1:8.1 Students will experience a variety of reading,
writing forms and speaking situations.
Indicators: bullets 1,2,3,4
Benchmark 8.1.2 Students read and write for a variety of
purposes.
Indicators bullets 1,2,3,4
Standard 2-Students use strategies to construct meaning when
working with language.
Benchmark 8.21 Students plan before reading, writing, speaking,
listening and viewing.
Indicator bullet 1
Benchmark 8.2-2 Students adapt writing, reading, speaking, listening,
or viewing strategies to purpose, context, or form.
Indicator bullets 1, 2, 3
Standard 4-Students respond critically to ideas in written and
spoken language.
Benchmark 8.4-3. Students determine how author create and communicate
meaning.
Indicator bullets 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
Standard 5-Students use language processes to acquire,
organize and communicate information.
Benchmark 8.5-4 Students use technology to assist in reading,
writing, viewing, speaking and listening. (SO 8.5)
Indicator bullets 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11
SOL(s) (including Computer/Technology):
8.3 Students will apply knowledge of the characteristics and elements
of various literary forms including.....lyric poetry
a. exploring the use of symbols and figurative language
b. author’s use of how to create meaning
c. compare and contrast the use of poetic elements of word choice,
rhythm, rhyme and voice
C/T 81, C/T 8.2, C/T 8.3, C/T 8.4
2. What will we examine as evidence of students’ knowledge
and/or skill?
Product(s): ClarisWorks Sonnet Slide Show of 5 slides
Performance(s): Oral presentation of the sonnet analysis
3. What exactly will the students and teacher do during the
lesson?
Directions to students for proceeding with the lesson:
Day 1: Students choose a Shakespearian sonnet from an anthology of
poetry, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, a collection of
sonnets, or the Internet.
Day 2: Students review the sonnet form i.e. structure, meter and
rhythm. Students also review figurative language used in poetry.
Analysis should also include word choice, speaker, tone, and fluency.
Students then apply analysis to their particular chosen sonnet .
The sonnet’s expression of feeling should be analyzed in terms
of the structure. The traditional form of the Italian sonnet of
octave-sestet can be seen in many of the Shakespeare sonnets. The
answer to the poem in the rhyming couplet can be explored.
Steps in Poetry Analysis
- Discuss structure in terms of line number, quatrain,
octave/sestet division
- Locate and identify figurative language and sound devices.
- In light of diction or word choice, discuss meaning of the
poem.
Day 4: Students create slide show of:
Slide One: Title Page which includes sonnet number and first line
Slide Two: First Quatrain
Slide Three: Second Quatrain
Slide Four: Third Quatrain
Slide Five: Rhyming Couplet
Day 5: Students practice presentation coordinating sonnet slide show
with sonnet analysis.
Day 6: Students present to class their analysis of their sonnet with
the help of their slide show.
Directions to teacher/administrator using the lesson?
Students will use scanners, ClarisWorks library, and ClarisWorks
paint to develop graphics to incorporate pictures that reveal imagery
and tone of the sonnets.
Students should use consistent and readable font. They can choose
their own background and borders for their slide show.
Teachers will present the sonnet form to students and review the
analytical concepts. They demonstrate how to do a slide show. (see
attachment) They should also develop a rubric for the
presentation.
APPROPRIATE ACCOMMODATIONS/MODIFICATIONS
4. What options in presentation(s) and/or response(s) are suggested
in order to provide the opportunity for all students to demonstrate
achievement of the benchmark(s) and indicator(s)?
- Students can choose a modern sonnet. For example the sonnet
“The Silken Tent” by Robert Frost.
- Students can be paired for the project with another student
for the purpose of ensuring achievement.
- Some students can experiment with writing their own
sonnets.
- Sonnets can be written about almost any aspect of human
nature. An expansion to this sonnet analysis can include student
written sonnets. Students can look to Sonnet 30 as a model.
It’s clear that the poet feels sorry for himself in the
octave and then realizes in the sestet that love is everything.
The compact structure of the sonnet, rhyming patterns and
emotional transference can appeal to any student.
Sources:
Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary, Writing Creatively, by
Joan D. Berbrich, The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets by
Helen Vendler, ClarisWorks Manual,
www.1.bluemountain.com/eng/shakespeare
The Sonnet
The Shakespearean sonnet is a lyrical poem that consists of 14
lines of iambic pentameter. Lyric poetry came from the word that
meant to the Greeks a song accompanied by a lyre. Now the term means
a short poem with a single speaker who expresses some thought and
feeling about a subject. The Shakespearean sonnet is divided into
three quatrains of a rhyme scheme of abab, cdcd, efef and a rhyming
couplet, gg. Many of the Shakespearean sonnets are divided into the
octave/sestet structure that was characteristic of the earlier
Petrachan sonnet. Most of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets were written
between 1594 and 1597.
Figurative Language
Metaphor-an implied comparison between two dissimilar objects or
things, not using like or as.
Simile-a comparison between two similar things or objects using like
or as.
Personification-a figure of speech in which a thing, quality, or idea
is represented as a person.
Symbol- an object or action that takes on additional meaning through
association.
Sound Devices
Rhythm-the sound patterns in poetry produced in metered verse by
repeating various patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Rhyme- the regular return of sounds in final words of lines.
Assonance-the repetition of vowel sounds in poetry.
Consonance-the repetition of consonant sounds in poetry.
Alliteration-the repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or
more words in a line of poetry.
Meter-the rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in
poetry. The metrical foot consists of a number of accented and
unaccented syllables.
Iamb- A metrical foot consisting of and unaccented syllable followed
by an accented syllable.
Pentameter- a line of five feet.