Friday, 21 June 2013

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment