Richard E. Miller
219 Principles of Literary Study

Shakespeare's Sonnet Sequence

So far in this course, you've read a number of poems about different subjects, in different forms, written by different authors. In writing about this material, you've considered a single poem in isolation and then you've written about an individual poem in relation to material it cites or relies on to be understood. With the assignment of Shakespeare's Sonnets, you now have the opportunity to read a number of poems (154 to be exact!) by a single author using the same form. The demands here are thus slightly different than the ones present earlier in the course: while it is obviously still necessary to read the individual poems closely, the sonnet sequence itself "invites" you to make connections between poems in the sequence and perhaps even to read the entire sequence itself as tracing out a narrative about the evolving relationships between the sonnets' characters.

Because of the number of sonnets included in the sequence, the range of topics discussed, and the variety of images deployed, writing about the entire sequence poses a problem: namely, how can one write in depth about such a massive project? You will set out to solve this problem in this writing assignment by creating your own "mini-collection" of sonnets, one with its own central subject or concern. In order to do this, I would like for you to read Shakespeare's sonnet sequence in its entirety and then to select at least three poems that share the same image, idea or concern. You might, for instance, consider Shakespeare's repeated use of economic images in the poems, his representation of women over the course of the sequence, or his evolving depiction of the difference between writing about love and being in love. What you select to write about is up to you, but you want to select something that you feel is significant or poses an important problem in Shakespeare's poetry.

In your essay, you will want to discuss the poems you have selected in detail (you will want to cite directly from each of the poems and to provide guidance in how you feel the poems might best be read), focusing on how the image, idea or concern is handled in each poem individually and among the poems collectively. Your work will be to provide both a reading of Shakespeare's treatment of the image, idea or concern you have selected and a discussion of what you feel is significant about your reading. What does your reading bring to light about Shakespeare's sonnet sequence in general? What does your reading allow one to see about the image, idea, or concern that would not otherwise be visible?

Having established your project, you will want to be certain to cite from at least three different sonnets. (Your citations should, like the citation that heads this assignment, include the sonnet number). While you are welcome to use this assignment to pursue ideas or arguments that emerge during class discussion of the sonnet sequence, you will want to avoid, where possible, focusing on any of the sonnets that we have discussed at length in class. And, finally, should you refer to outside sources in writing your essay, be sure to cite these sources in your text and include a works cited page with all the relevant bibliographic information.