Syllables homework

Shakespeare uses 10 syllables per line in all of his sonnets, but will sometimes vary this to 11 or even 9 syllables. Changing the amount of syllables can be interpreted in many different ways, for example in Sonnet 116 we see Line 12 containing 11 syllables, in previous lines Shakespeare is personifying love as a woman and because love is a feminine he ends with a feminine stress, or even showing the something is extended, this could be love or that the "edge of doom" is far away; Shakespeare also ends with the monosyllabic word "doom" this word has a feminine stress put upon it, showing the doom is, like a female, weak and can be easily overcome. 

Still in Sonnet 116 Line 6 "That looks on tempests and is never shaken" this is interpreted to be showing us that love can out last the storm/tempest, it can also be saying that love is a stronger force than the sea; the extra syllable in Line 6 can also show that love can deal with an unbalanced rhythm provided by the extra syllable, Shakespeare has also chosen to use the word "tempest" instead of storm to show the threat is much greater. In Sonnet 18 like in most sonnets Shakespeare talks of love, "When in eternal line to time thou growest" this line like Line 6 in Sonnet 116 talks of love being one almighty force yet again, it has an extra syllable to demonstrate love being longer, outlasting and eternal, and the love inside will grow. 

Both of these lines of 11 syllables relate to love outlasting, love being "eternal", it is also showing love can overcome an uneven rhythm and 'impediments'. Both poems speak of  love and how it is strong- stronger than death.

Extra Syllables

Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter to great effect in his sonnets, yet when he breaks the rules this is even more interesting. In Sonnet 1, for example, the line "And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding." is 11 syllables.  The poem is about how the youth Shakespeare is advising should not tarry and love before he becomes old. This extra syllable could be to show the "waste" that the youth is making not finding someone to love.

This also puts stress on the word "own". It is a masculine stress and he is male so this makes sense but as well as this it could be telling him that he, the young man, is important and should grow up loving his life in the arms of another instead of being alone.

However, eleven-syllable lines can also be used in other ways; in Sonnet 116 the line "But bears it out even to the edge of doom." has one extra iam. It has this not to stress a particular word, but to unstress it. The word "doom" is made unstressed to make it seem weaker, less powerful and that it can be overcome.

Sonnet work

In sonnet 126 line 9, he uses 11 syllables 'Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure!' he is showing that he is a minion to her love giving her the last say because the 11th syllable is feminine.Also in line 10 'She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure:' he uses 11 syllables to show that her 'treasure'   is valuable.

In sonnet 116 line 6 'That looks on tempests and is never shaken;' he is showing that the boat is strong and can outlast a tempest, in line 12 'But bears it out even to the edge of doom.' he is showing that the ship can last longer and he uses the 11th syllable to explain the extra length.

To conclude i think that shakespeare uses extra syllables to put an extra point about it and to exaggerate a line.

In sonnet 116 he uses three lines that have 11 syllables, one of these lines is line 12 "but bears it out even to the edge of doom" he ends this line on a feminine word, he did this to say that love is so strong it can overcome anything including "doom". He also uses 11 syllables in line 6  " That looks on tempests and is never shaken" by this he suggests that love is powerful enough to concur anything as long as it is pure.                

In sonnet 130 he only uses one line that has 11 syllables which is line 13 " And yet, by heaven, i think my love as rare" he uses 11 syllables in this line because he uses the word "rare" it is also rare to use 11 syllables which is why he uses this. 
These two sonnets both are to do with love but also saying that love is so powerful that it can overcome even the worst things in life but also love doesn't have to be shown from the outside, it is what comes from within that counts.

In sonnet 130 there is one line with 11 sylabbles ,this line is number 13.
"and yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare"
He uses 11 sylables because he metions the word rare and having 11 sylable is is rare in a sonnet. it is like the "odd one out" line in the sonnet, and because of this it must mean something, it says things without saying it.
In sonnet 116 there is also a line will 11 sylabols, this is line 6.
"that looks on tempests and is never shaken"
This line could suggest that Shakespere is saying that love can overcome everything as long as it is togather. This sonnet has 3 lines with 11 sylabols , this is still rare like sonnet 130 bu t not as rare. A tempest is a storm at sea, so if a ship is at sea during a tempest it will get shaken but love can out balance this.

The 11th Syllable

Why does Shakespeare use lines that don't adhere to the familiar pentameter?

At times we find lines that are either 9 syllables or 11.  Compare two poems that use lines with 11 syllables - in what way is the use similar or different?

Write your answers in the comments box below.

Introduction to Shakespeare's sonnets

Composition Date of the Sonnets
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets.  These were probably written between 1592 and 1598. During Elizabethan times sonnets were often commissioned by wealthy parties.  This means writers were provided with a subject that the person paying them was interested in - this could have been a theme or idea or person. In 1609 Shakespeare's sonnets are said to have been stolen and published by Thomas Thorpe without Shakespeare's permission, however an arrangement was met and the sonnets were published. The sonnets were dedicated to a W. H., whose identity remains a mystery, although William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke, is frequently suggested because Shakespeare's First Folio (1623) was also dedicated to him.


Narrative of the Sonnets
The majority of the sonnets (1-126) are addressed to a young man, with whom the poet has an intense interest in. The poet spends the first seventeen sonnets trying to convince the young man to marry and have children; beautiful children that will look just like their father, ensuring his immortality. Many of the remaining sonnets in the young man sequence focus on the power of poetry and pure love to defeat death and "all oblivious enmity" (Sonnet 55).   The final sonnets (127-154) are addressed to a promiscuous and scheming woman known to modern readers as the dark lady. Both the poet and his young man have become obsessed with the raven-haired temptress in these sonnets, and the poet's whole being is at odds with his insatiable "sickly appetite" (Sonnet 147). The tone is distressing, with language of sensual feasting, uncontrollable urges, and sinful consumption.  Because we know little other than a few facts about his upbringing, education and family life it is difficult to decide how true to Shakespeare's personal feelings the sonnets are.  It makes sense to read his poems as a work of fiction rather than looking for real people the poems may have been based on as we have little evidence of who could be who.  What will make your understanding clearer is a good understanding of the context they were written in.  This means what was happening over the period they were written.