Shakespearean “Pop Sonnet” Analysis
In a well-organized response answer the following questions:
- What is the title and who is the artist of your song? What is the title of your sonnet? How do these two relate?
- What is the theme of the song and your sonnet? How did you make the connections clear between the two? What was your strategy in making the sonnet match the song?
- On a scale of one to ten with one being the easiest and ten being the most challenging, how challenging was it to write this sonnet? Explain.
- What was the most challenging part of composing your sonnet? Why?
- Where is the volta? Explain what the turn or shift in meaning is.
- Did you use any figurative language? If so, make sure you italicize them in your sonnet. Also, explain here what it was and why you used it in your sonnet.
- Did you use any poetic sound devices? If so, make sure you italicize them in your sonnet.
- Be sure to bold any Shakespearean language used in your sonnet. Remember, the requirement was ten words or phrases...but many of you had more than that. What is the effect of using this type of language to convey a modern song?
The title of the original song for this sonnet is “Christmas Without You” and the original song is played by Kenny Rogers. The title of my sonnet is “Christmas Without Thee (Sonnet 1)”. I gave the sonnet this name because the first part is what “Christmas Without You” would be in shakespearean language. Also, Shakespeare numbered his sonnets, so I did as well.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of the song and sonnet is that there is a person that is away from a person that he holds very dear to him. I made the connections clear between the two by including many of the phrases from the song, paraphrasing them, and putting them back in the sonnet. I incorporated parts of the song using the same strategy, especially with some of the similes.
I would rate the difficulty of creating this sonnet at a 3/10. I rate it a 3/10 because, while it may be hard to count the syllables and create a rhyme scheme, it makes it easier when many of the things that are required are in the song that the sonnet is based on. Also, it was actually very fun to create the sonnet.
One thing that I found difficult was the need for exactly 10 syllables, which required me to find alternate ways to say something. This made it so that I could not blindly write sentences down, but I had to think very hard while I wrote.
The Volta was on line 13 of my sonnet, and the change in meaning is conveyed in the word “but”. Throughout the story until then, the sonnet is about how the performer feels that he is not with his significant other. After the volta, the sonnet is about how the significant other is beautiful, and how he wishes that she were here.
The usage of shakespearean words in a modern sonnet adds an old-age feeling, even though it is modern language. This changes the view of the entire sonnet, making it sound “smarter”.
Poem:Christmas Without Thee (sonnet 1)
DeleteAnon, I regret to say that I am
Not spending Christmas with thee on this night
Without thou i’m a PC with no RAM
My fireplace is burning very bright
Yet tis’ dimmed without thee here with me
All the memories that I remember
Makes it harder that I am not with thee
It makes me feel as though i’m dismembered
When I am not with thee this Christmas
I am a book with no protagonist
I’m a Christmas with no Saint Nicholas
I’m a hero with no antagonist
But thou art so beautiful thither
Anon, I ask that you would come hither
you did a great job connecting the theme of the song to the theme of the sonnet
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletei also found it difficult to fit 10 syllables into each line of the sonnet
DeleteI like the use of figurative language in your sonnet. The repetition of metaphors get the theme across well.
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed writing this sonnet!
DeletePop Sonnet
ReplyDeleteMy Feelings To Thee
Thou are the ache that will hurt in my chest
The continuous desire of my heart.
Think of my withals that I have profess’d
That say we should ne’r be so apart.
Even when we are close we’re worlds away
I can never reach thee with my stretched hand.
To help withal thy aching soul I pray
Thou heart had other things for us planned.
Nay please do not tell me what may unfold
An our hopes and dreams do not agree.
Our love with such apace will always hold
And please tell me wherefore this must have be.
I can’t store my passion for thou away
Feelings I never wanna hear thou say.
The song I chose to use when making my pop sonnet was “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. I made the title of my sonnet “My Feelings to Thee”, the two clearly relate in the way that they are both about feelings. The original title is about thoughts while the title that I gave to my sonnet is about the feelings about the thoughts, which both relate to each other.
The theme of the song and the sonnet is about someone wanting to know the feelings about someone else but they do not want to get hurt in the process. It is like wanting to know the truth, even if it is not what you want to hear. I made this theme relevant in the sonnet too, the main part of this is when one of the lines in the sonnet says “Nay please do not tell me what may unfold”. This line is the Volta of the sonnet and it connects to the theme of wanting to know something but not wanting to get hurt.
When accessing the difficulty of this sonnet I would give it a 6/10. I thought that certain elements were difficult such as putting it into the correct rhyme scheme and also following iambic pentameter. However it was easy to divide the sonnet into the correct form of 14 lines with 3 quatrains and 1 couplet. It was also not that difficult to incorporate Shakespearean words and some Figurative Language. While the project did take a lot of time, it was fun to do.
I would say the most challenging part of composing my sonnet was finding a way to fit only 10 syllables in each line to follow iambic pentameter. I was usually one to little or one too many, so I had to go back in and decide what I needed to fix to make it what it was supposed to be.
My volta is found in line 9 of the sonnet. The meaning went from wanting to know the truth to not wanting to know because it may cause some feelings to change.
I used 2 metaphors in my sonnet. The first one was in the first line that says “Thou are the ache that will hurt in my chest” this is not to be taken literally as an actual pain. It is an internal pain that is not felt from the body, but by the mind and has a relation to the heart. My second metaphor can be found in line 9 which says “Nay please do not tell me what may unfold”. This is not meant to be like the unfolding of a paper it is meant to be an unfolding of actions that will happen as an effect of something else.
The effect of using Shakespearean language to convey a modern song makes us think a little more. We now can not just quickly read over the sonnet, we have to go in and find the meaning of the word and what it has to do where it is. Using Shakespearean language also makes the sonnet sound more professional.
here is a link to the lyrics of the original song: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/backstreetboys/iwantitthatway.html
DeleteI agree that 10 syllables was difficult to fit in each line while still getting the message of the song across. You did a good job or incorporating Shakespearean language into your sonnet while keeping the overall theme of your song.
DeleteI also agree that the 10 syllables per line was very difficult, but I ultimately thought the rhyme scheme made it even harder. I agree with what you said about the Shakespearean language because it makes you realize what the song is all about.
DeleteThis is the same idea that I had included in my response, the rhyme scheme along with the 10 syllable rule posed a challenge.
DeleteUses a lot of Shakespearean words and incorporates the many difficult requirements.
DeleteI'm glad you thought it was a fun project!
DeleteLeah Ragosta
ReplyDeleteMrs. Colando
English 9H
7 June 2016
Pop Sonnet
The song I chose is “Run the World” by Beyoncé. I named my sonet “A Woman’s World”. Both these titles relate to the overall message of the song which is that women are powerful and control the world. This is the major theme of the song. Women being strong, smart, and independant is what I focused on for the theme of my sonnet as well. My strategy for achieving this was to take the main idea of the lines of the song alter them so they are different but have the same basic message. For example a line from the song is “Strong enough to bear the children then get back to business”(Beyoncé 63-64). For this line I came up with “But smart to run this here corporation/And yet we have the time to care for our homes.”(lines 7-8). On a scale of 1-10, I would rate creating this sonnet at a 6. Overall, I enjoyed writing a pop song in Shakespearean language and in a sonnet format. It made me think outside of how I am used to. The things that I found difficult about writing this sonnet was getting 10 syllables and keeping the rhyme scheme. The volta in my sonnet is in line 13. The word that signifies this is “Yet”. In the song, there are lines where she strains from being so powerful and talks about how she doesn’t mean to put men down and hopes the man she is talking to still likes her. This is what I used for my volta. In my sonnet I used a metaphor and personification. I compared the words she speaks to thunder. Also I described her need for love as devouring something. Some poetic sound devices I used are alliteration in line 6 and assonance in line 12. Shakespearean language gives the sonnet a more sophisticated feeling. It makes the message come across stronger and more significant.
This is a link to my song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U
A Woman’s World
Who runs this hither world thou see’st now?
Mark the words of thunder spoken by us.
How sirrahs came to power I’ll show how.
Women near and far rise to my words thus
My persuasion shall build a great nation
Strong so sticks and stones doth not break our bones,
But smart to run this here corporation
And yet we have the time to care for our homes.
Yes we girls hath the world’s endless power.
Thee and all the other men shall respect.
It’s not Euros but thy love we devour.
Thus our love so strong you must accept.
Yet I hope our words doth not scare;
Hope though still like me for the world we share.
I think you did a very good job conveying the theme from the song into your sonnet. I also agree with the fact that your Shakespearean language did make the sonnet seem much more sophisticated.
DeleteI never thought of it in that way, but the Shakespearean language does add a new level of sophistication to the sonnet.
DeleteRachel Blustein
ReplyDeleteEnglish 9 Honors
Mrs. Colando
7 June 2016
Growing Up Analysis
I decided to do my pop sonnet on the song 7 Years by Lukas Graham and entitled the sonnet Growing Up. 7 Years talks all about the stages of life at some monumental ages in life like 11, 20 and finally 60. I titled the sonnet Growing Up in respect of the theme of the song, don’t resist growing up. In the song, it says the father tells the young girl at the age of 11 to find someone to marry. As the song goes on, the girl realizes not to rush life, but to live in the moment. To connect the song and the sonnet, I used the opening line of the song, “Once I was 7 years old,” and turned it into “Ere I wast seven years old.” I then went on to talk about how big the girl thought the world was at that age, but as time went on, it became smaller. In matching the song to the sonnet, I decided to try not to follow the lyrics word for word, and instead, really convey the theme. I had a difficult time with the sonnet so I would give it an 8.5/10. Not only was it difficult to get the message across in merely 140 syllables, you then had to give it the rhyme scheme. I think the hardest part of the sonnet was definitely the rhyme scheme. After you finally got your ten syllables to fit in the line, you then had to make the words rhyme to the A,B,C,D,C,D,E,F,E,F,G,G rhyme scheme. My volta is in line 9, highlighted by the word, “now.” Before line 9, the sonnet was based in the past, but at the volta, the sonnet talks about being in the present and eventually asked questions about the future. I used two similes in my sonnet. I compared the world moving to a tornado to show how confused the young girl was about the world. I also compared the world to a cold day. If you are alone at an old age, the world seems so much colder, therefore I used this simile. I used two assonances in the sonnet. In line two, I used “stood in front of” which uses the short “o” sound. In line five, I used, “Knees. Ere I was twenty years,” which uses the long “e.” I think using figurative language in the sonnet helped bring across the Shakespearean message. The language was able to connect a modern day song into a past piece of literature. Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment, no matter how difficult it was. It gave me a new respect for Shakespeare and all of his work. Below is my sonnet and a link to the lyrics.
Growing Up
Ere I wast seven years old a big world A
Stood in front of me. At the time I thought B
I wast bigger. At times it felt it swirled A
Around me like a tornado. It brought B
Me to my knees. Ere I wast twenty years C
Old. Mark I was growing up too quickly D
My childhood scares art no longer my fears. C
I’ll knoweth it’s too late when I am sickly. D
Now I’m sixty years old. I need to E
Hie before it is too late. Will the world F
Seem cold like dark bitter winter days do? E
Thither after will I be warm and curled F
Up in my children’s hugs? Now that I am G
Sixty years old, will people call me ma’am? G
I am glad you enjoyed this assignment!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCob76kigA
ReplyDeleteVirak Pond-Tor
ReplyDeleteMrs. Colando
English 9
7 June 2016
Sonnet Reflection
I made my sonnet about the song “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk The Moon. The title I gave my sonnet is “Doth Not Look Back”. My title is related to the theme of the song which is to live in the moment and try to enjoy yourself in the present, rather than to keep looking back on the past. This is also the theme of the sonnet which is why I named it “Doth Not Look Back”. To make the connection clear I tried to take specific lines from the chorus and translate them into shakespearean language. For example, in the song the woman says “Oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me.” so I put “Doth not look back, keep thine eyes fixated
on thy maiden.” My strategy was to take as many lines from the chorus, since they were the most recognizable lines from the song, and turn them into shakespearean language. If I were to rate the difficulty of this project I would give it a 5. I wouldn’t say that this project was extremely easy, however it wasn’t extremely hard either. It took quite a lot of time to find words that rhymed and made sense in the poem, but once I was on a roll I could dish out lines like they were nothing. Sometimes I was stuck on one word that had too many syllables or I needed to find a word that rhymed with another word and had a certain amount of syllables, but this just made the sonnet time consuming rather than difficult. The most challenging part was developing the theme in the sonnet. It was hard to send a message to the reader while being constricted to so many rules that had to be followed. The volta in my sonnet is at line 9 and continues onto the 10th line. It says “ She hath not much charm yet we art fated to be conjoint.” All of the lines before line 9 are setting up a situation where in lines 9 and 10 the people in the song finally get together and head to the dance floor. I used figurative language multiple times in this sonnet. In line 1 I gave darkness characteristics of a human by saying it consumes because I wanted to show that the people in the song are being overwhelmed by the night and the atmosphere of the club. Also, in line 4 I used a metaphor to compare a lifetime sentence in jail to the people being bound together because everyone knows about jail and I thought it would be humorous to compare dating and marriage to prison since lots of people feel restricted in relationships. Another time I used a figurative language was in line 14. At end of the sonnet I used irony by not translating the most iconic line of the song. I thought it was funny how the whole sonnet is in shakespearean language until you come to the end and it just says “Shut up and dance with me.” The effect of using shakespearean language in a song is that the reader pays more attention. We are not normally exposed to this type of language in our everyday lives so when we see this in a poem it may cause the reader to try and analyze the piece more. Personally I thought this was good end of the year project that didn’t seem too easy or hard to complete.
Shut Up And Dance Music Video: https://youtu.be/6JCLY0Rlx6Q
Doth Not Look Back
We art prey to the darkness which consumes.
Weak to acoustics and luminescence
Thither, the female and I doth presume
We art bound by cuffs and a life sentence.
I mark a fair lady, not at her best.
And yet, anon she is my Juliet.
Wherefore I doth sense presence in my breast?
Our eyes locked and I knew ere we met,
She hath not much charm yet we art fated
To be conjoint. Amongst the floor she states
“Doth not look back, keep thine eyes fixated
On thy maiden.” With this woman awaits
My future. I say “Thou art holding thee
Back.” She proclaims “Shut up and dance with me.”
Your title is very creative and makes a good reference to the song!
DeleteI agree with Zari, the title is very creative and keeps Shakespeare in mind.
DeleteI love the humor in your jail metaphor!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEdwin van Renselaar
ReplyDeleteMrs. Colando
English Honors 9
7 June 2016
The song that I chose for the pop sonnet project was Let it Go by James Bay. The title of my sonnet is then Our Love is Far Too Gone. These two relate because the song and the sonnet are both talking about the struggle of holding on to this painful love and how the speaker and the singer both do not want to hold on to it anymore. They are comparing how their love used to be good and now it is getting worse and they just want to leave it. The theme of both the song and the sonnet is pretty self-explanatory as it is trying to let go of love that is no longer true love or happiness. I made the connections between the song and the sonnet by saying the same comparisons that are said in the song and then showing how it hurts the singer or speaker. My strategy in making the sonnet match the song was taking the lyrics and trying to work line by line but also skipping some of the lines and combining them into one or just leaving them out completely. I took the major part of the song, which was the chorus, and then made the focus that. On a scale of one to ten on challenge of creating the sonnet I would have to rate this a 7. Constructing and analyzing the sonnet and the song are both very hard to look at. The most challenging part of my sonnet was getting the quatrains and couplets to be their own stanza while also making it all flow together with the volta and rhyme scheme. This was the hardest because I had to find words that rhymed and also led into a new meaning of something else while also making them all connect. The volta is in line 13. This is a turn in meaning because up until this point the sonnet is just showing the speaker’s dislike for the love that they have and show comparisons on how bad it actually is. He questions the love but then in line 13 the speaker finally say that he can no longer hold on to this bad stuff anymore and they need to be themselves. My figurative language is throughout the whole sonnet and it is italicized. One piece of figurative language I used was symbolism in line 7 where is says “We must leave our foe for now we art bruised”. The symbol here is “foe”. “Foe” symbolises the love and how the love is more of an enemy than what it should be. The effect of using Shakespearean language in the sonnet to convey a modern song shows how close songs are to Shakespearean times and words. By altering some of the meaning and using these words you can still get the same rhythm and theme of the modernized version/song.
Absolutely love this song! Good choice!
DeleteIt is true what you say about making the quatrains and couplet separate, yet part of a bigger whole.
DeleteA Painful Loss Displayed Through Poetry
ReplyDeleteFor my pop sonnet, I based it off of “What Hurts The Most” by Rascal Flatts. I named my sonnet “The Worst Of All Pains” since the sonnet and the song both relate to not being able to say everything held inside before someone had died. Both my sonnet and the actual song display the theme and universal message of the unreadiness for death. To make the sonnet connect with the song, I used the the simile “What hurts like bullets to my hopeless heart Is that I wanted thou till the end but” (Hobin 9-10). I wanted this to show the message from the song that the death of a loved one was too soon and many words were left unsaid causing grief. On a scale of one to ten, I would say this sonnet writing process is a six out of ten. Getting the ten syllable requirement to work with the rhyme scheme was the biggest challenge for me, also explaining why I would make it a six out of ten. The volta is located at line thirteen. Throughout the entire sonnet, there is a message of losing someone too soon. At the volta, it explains that although the writer is hurt, they will heal because they know their loved one is in a good place. I used two similes in my sonnet. The first one says “What hurts like bullets to my hopeless heart Is that I wanted thou till the end but” (Hobin 9-10). This means that the pain of losing their loved one is compared to bullets in their heart. The other simile is “I am like a duet with just one part” (Hobin 11). This shows that the writer is incomplete without their loved one, just as a duet is with only one singer. In my sonnet I also included two examples of sound devices, I used alliteration. In line nine I include the words hurts, hopeless, and heart which makes the line contain alliteration. In line ten I included the words thou, till, and the making the sound device of alliteration. In my sonnet, I included eleven Shakespearean words which is above the requirement. The Shakespearean language shows what the sonnet is all about, and makes it less of a pop song and more of a sonnet. All in all, I enjoyed writing this sonnet and believe it was a good experience for my growth in English.
Here is a link to the song I based my sonnet off of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnVkYjEbe8M
I always thought that song was about just losing someone, not necessarily through death. But I guess it makes sense that the person could have died. Interesting.
DeleteSteven Amaral
ReplyDeleteMrs. Colando
English 9H
7 June 2016
Pop Sonnet
Rise to the Top
Tell me how thou really feel. Tell me how,
Thee feel anon. I would ask thou the deal.
If thou had an actual deal right now.
Many men could not make a great hit real.
You're a whole bunch of things, but thee aren't me.
Nobody ever tells me what to do.
OVO as a gold mine thanks to thee.
And I'm going gold because of this View.
Mostly did platinum records before.
So all of these men better back off me.
It's like I'm in the hall of fame therefore,
I'm famous like I'm top five; that's crazy.
But what hath happened, have thou really won?
I've won a Grammy ere, and I'm not done.
The song I chose to do my sonnet on was Grammys, by Drake, featuring Future. I named my sonnet, Rise to the Top. The two titles relate because as the artist became more successful, his popularity grew, causing him to win a Grammy Award.
The overall theme of the song and sonnet is, becoming successful. This theme is connected because it shows that as u accomplish more in life, you can reach out to bigger and better things. So, the harder you work on your objectives, the better your chance is to succeed them and reach better things. My strategy in making the sonnet match the song, was to take the most important lyrics that support the theme, and turning them into lines with the correct Iambic Pentameter and Rhyme Scheme. This way the overall meaning of the song was transformed into a sonnet.
From one to ten, I rate the difficulty an 8. My reasoning behind this was that I found including ten different Shakespearian Language words a little difficult. Also the inclusion of literary devices and sound devices was hard for my sonnet. However I got around these problems while finalizing the sonnet.
The most challenging part in writing this sonnet for me was the last two g lines in the rhyme scheme. This was difficult for me because I knew exactly what I wanted to say, with the right Iambic Pentameter, but I could not get them to rhyme. I eventually solved my problem, and now it rhymes well.
The Volta is located in line 13 of my sonnet. The turn in meaning is that someone asks Drake after all his success if he really won an award. And he replies that his, “rise to the top” won him an award and he isn’t done winning them. The overall shift is that Drake went from getting lots of hate towards him, to becoming successful, and eventually winning an award.
Yes, I used two examples of figurative language in my sonnet. My first example was, “OVO as a gold mine”. This was a simile of Drakes famous record producing company, Octobers Very Own, being as wealthy as a gold mine. I used it in my sonnet to show how Drakes work brought his company to wealthiness. The other example was, “I'm famous like I'm top five”. This was another simile showing that Drakes popularity makes it seem like he is one of the top five hip-hop artist of all time. I chose to include this in my sonnet because it helped develop how popular Drake has become.
The effect of using Shakepearian Language to convey a modern song is to connect a modern day song to literature used in the past by William Shakespeare himself. It makes the song seem much older than it really is. Also, it makes the sonnet seem like it is coming directly from Shakespeare, rather than a student in 2016. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and thought it was one of the best this year. I think this project should be given to all freshmen from now on because it is a great way to improve the skills in creating sonnets.
Here is a link to listen to the clean version of Grammys http://www.videotoolz20.com/v3/song/drake-feat-future-grammys-clean
I like how you said that you only highlighted the most important lyrics into your sonnet
DeleteI really like your strategy, and I also notice that you're attention to syllables and rhyme scheme is commendable.
DeleteZari Apodaca
ReplyDeleteMrs. Colando
English 9H, Per 4
7 June 2016
Sonnet Relection
For my sonnet, I chose the rap song “Big Rings” by Drake and Future off of the “What A Time To Be Alive” album. The name of my sonnet is “King of the Rings”. Drake and Future’s song tells how they themselves and their “team” deserves rings or recognition for how great they are and all that they have accomplished. I connected this with real Kings and how they are recognized not all the time for what good they've done but for what horrible things they have done. Kings have their crowns, staffs, or even rings as well to mark their highness in power. The song's theme is a triumphant celebration of how amazing the artists are doing and that they seek praisal for it and their continued success. The theme of my sonnet is similar as the majority is a play on words. To make the two sound similar and connections clear, I tried my best to leave subtle hints that are well known from the song. For example, in line 8, I said, “A duel of yours versus mine is past rent”. In the song a well-known lyric that my line is based off of is, “You and yours versus me and mine”. I connected the song to my sonnet using a popular song lyric and incorporating it in. On a scale of 1-10, I found this sonnet to be a “4” to write. I had no trouble writing the actual sonnet and getting my ideas out. However, the most difficult part of composing my sonnet was adding in figurative language. Using Shakespearean language was at time frustrating but doable when I realized a lot of pronouns could be replaced with Shakespearean words. My Volta is in line 9. I used the Shakespearean word “Ho” which translates to hey! as a way to show the speaker is recalling the reader's attention for a closer read. This is the Volta because the speaker is speaking to someone above (like a God) and reconciling with that individual now instead of just speaking out. Alongside the Volta, I used figurative language. In line 1, I used alliteration and said, “grand gathering of gang”, to compare to Drake and Future’s lyric, “I got a really big team”. In line 4, I used a metaphor, “rings of fire”, to compare to the lyric, “And they need some really big rings”. Drake and Future are both rappers and in today's society when a rapper's lyrics flow really well, they're referred to as “fire”. The whole songs lyrics flow nicely and it connects the fact that they deserve rings for their “fire” lyrics and songs. In line 5, I alluded to one of the rappers saying, “Sir of the Future”, in which his name is indeed Future. In line 7, the simile, “my tunes just like a bird”, is used to describe not only how “fire” their lyrics are but how appeasing they are alongside their music is to hear. In line 8, “yours versus mine” is used to allude to the infamous lyric from the song, “You and yours versus me and mine”. Throughout the sonnet, thee and thou are frequently used. Also, I used hath, desir’d, hither, wherefore, ho, and thyself. The use of these terms put to modern work to help convey show how similar Shakespeare's work is to modern songs. Even if it's a word or word order you don't understand, it can easily be translated by analysis so you can understand the message trying to be presented to the reader or listener in this case. In conclusion, Shakespearean sonnets and modern rap songs like “Big Rings” can easily be connected and reinvented for all time.
Here is a link to the song lyrics:
https://play.google.com/music/preview/Txorpkkaf6m24qmtcr335psfiqy?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
Some other people have also said the hardest part of this assignment was to add in Shakespearean language, however I felt that there were many common words such as "do" and "are" that could be replaced without effecting the amount of syllables in a line. However I don't believe that just adding in some of his words will make a sonnet feel like it is in Shakespearean language, which is the real challenge.
DeleteI agree Virak!
DeleteI like the way you chose to subtly show connections between the original song and your sonnet.
DeleteI wrote a pop sonnet to the song ‘Just Give Me a Reason’ by Pink, ft Nate Ruess. My title of my sonnet is ‘Thee Tooketh my Heart.’ Since the song is about heartbreak and trying to desperately hold on to the love the two people in the song had, I thought that the two titles tied into each other. In the song, the girl in the relationship is looking for a reason to stay with the guy. She has suspicions about him and is wanting him so desperately to say something that will make her want to trust him again. One of the lines from the song is “Right from the start you were a thief you stole my heart, and I your willing victim.” In the poem, I tried to translate it into Shakesperean language as best as I could. In the poem it read “From the beginning thee tooketh my heart, Howev’r I lie at thy hands victim.” I was trying to show how in both the song and sonnet the girl let the boy take control of her heart and sort of manipulate her. On a scale of one to ten with one being the least challenging and ten being the most, I would say writing this sonnet was about a seven. When I first looked at this assignment, I switched songs about ten times hoping that the right one would come along. When I started writing this sonnet, I wrote in modern english. After, I went back and tried my hardest to make it sound as Shakesperean as possible. The hardest part of writing this sonnet was including the figurative language. Once you have already written something, I found it difficult to go back and edit and add something new. My volta takes place in the 11th line. The previous ten lines had been mostly reminiscing about the love between the two, and doubt. However, the 11th line states “Maybe then we can learn how to be one
ReplyDeleteAgain and reunite our hearts of ice.” These two lines show a ray of hope, or a brighter future between the two. Thorughout my sonnet, I used different forms of figurative language, one being a simile. The sonnet related the two’s love to a black hole. Something so powerful, however everyone knows nothing good will come out of it. By using Shakesperean language, it makes the sonnet sound more official and appropriate to the time period. It makes you think of what the sonnet is really trying to say, and then relate that to the pop song.
“Thee Tooketh My Heart”
From the beginning thee tooketh my heart
Howev’r I lay at thy hands victim
Thee hadst seen me at my worst from the start
And as thee saw the problems thee fixed them
I heareth thy voice ramble on while you sleep
Howev’r these things not sayeth to me
We’ve let our love become like a black hole
So strong, yet nothing good shall come of it
I beg of thee to giveth a reason
And the faintest ray of hope shall suffice
Maybe then we can learn how to be one
Again and reunite our hearts of ice
I just wanteth things to be how they’ve been
One day we can learneth and love again
I found it very hard to go back and edit stuff that you have already written too. Sometimes this resulted in me having to change whole lines up in order to make the sonnet fit with the requirements.
DeleteDoth Not
ReplyDeleteThe song I chose to write about was “Don’t” by Ed Sheeran, which conveys themes of betrayal and unfaithfulness. I decided to name my own Shakespearean version of this song “Burn.” In the song, Ed tells his ex not to (hence the title “Don’t”) mess with his emotions, after she cheats on him, without taking his feelings for her into account. My title “Burn”, maintains the brevity of the title “Don’t”, and conveys how Ed feels heartbroken and betrayed when his ex-girlfriend cheats on him. In the original song, Ed Sheeran often alludes to flames and burns to illustrate this feeling, which is why I chose this as the title to my sonnet. As previously mentioned, the theme of both the Sonnet and the song is betrayal. In the beginning of the story, Ed falls hopelessly in love with a girl he finds special and different, and although their careers frequently tear them apart, he still wishes to be with her. Unfortunately, later in the Sonnet, she betrays him, when he finds her cheating on him with another guy. In order to illustrate this story in my Sonnet, I first wrote down all of the lyrics to the song. Following that, I began to select which lyrics signified turning points in the relationship, and which lines meant the most to me personally. From there, since the song contains so many lyrics, I narrowed it down and began to write down the story in my own words, while still attempting to include key points from the song. On a scale of one to ten in terms of difficulty of writing the Sonnet, I would rate the creation of the Sonnet at an eight. Fulfilling the requirements of the sonnet, in addition to telling the story effectively became much more difficult than I ever anticipated. The most challenging part of creating “Burn”, in my opinion was incorporating Shakespearean language, and overall attempting to mimic Shakespeare’s style of writing. At points it felt unnatural to incorporate words such as “hither” and “thither” into the poem because I am not acquainted with reading, speaking and writing in traditional Shakespearean language. The volta in my Sonnet occurs at line 9, when I introduced the fact that the narrator’s significant other had been cheating on him. I used a few examples of figurative language in my sonnet. The first example I use occurs in line 2: “Ere the white months turned green and new again.” This means that the meeting of the narrator and his/her significant other takes place before spring, during the dead of winter. Following that, in line 3 “She seek only lover to burn alive.” The original song “Don’t” uses this metaphor, which means that the narrator felt that he/she should have expected that she would use him, or “burn” him. In line 12, I use the metaphor “Dimme’d red love”, which represents how their relationship can never be as vivid, and bright, now that the truth had been exposed. Finally, the last metaphor in the sonnet on line 13 reads “Her heart feels cold upon my arm”, which symbolizes how the truth is uncomfortable to hear, and portrays love as cold and bitter, instead of warm and caring. The use of Shakespearean language allows for a more formal, and romantic atmosphere to the poem. Additionally, it shows that even though through the years, there have been many cultural differences, the feelings associated with love and heartbreak are still the same as today. All people have experienced feelings of love and betrayal, and it will continue to be this way throughout the rest of human existence, despite which language these feelings are described in
I like the way you went about this assignment by breaking down the song lyrics to really highlight the turning points in their relationship. Good strategy!
Delete
ReplyDeleteBurn
Her eyes met mine when bitter cold arrived,
Ere the white months turned green and new again.
She seek only lover to burn alive,
Wherefore am I so blind as other men?
Only days surpassed since I met her last,
We eat, we drink, we sing as the days fade.
Hither and thither I sung nights for cash,
I miss her so, though she hath gone few days.
Wishful, blissful, now infidelity.
Anon I wish for quill to document,
Dimme’d red of love with reality.
She hath tear on shoulder, time doth not rent.
Her heart feels cold upon my arm, but burns,
For news of this I pray to please unlearn.
Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksekm7JYzGw
ReplyDeleteAaron Ly
ReplyDeleteMrs.Colando
English 9 H
7 June 2016
Sonnet Reflection
The title of the song I chose is “Too Good” by Drake featuring Rihanna from the album “Views.” I named my sonnet “ My Love is Too Strong for Thee.” These two titles relate because both of the are talking about how one treats their person with all their love and devotion but the other does not show their love in the same way. The theme of the song is that when you treat someone and you devote your life to them you may believe that they don’t give the same amount of love back to you and is only using you. My theme is that one contemplates on how much love one devotes to the other but they don’t realize the amount they are giving and soon they would soon understand why they are “too good for you.” My strategy for making the sonnet match the song is that I took a summary of the song and took the central idea of the song and elaborated into a sonnet. Also I tried to take the most important lines in the song and translate into Shakespearean language such as the line “ I’m too good for you.” I then converted the lines into Iambic Pentameter and the correct rhyme scheme. From rating the difficulty of the sonnet from a one to ten I would rate it a 7 because for my song it was kind of difficult to use literary devices that would connect to the main theme. The most challenging part into writing this sonnet is trying to fit the lyrics into Iambic Pentameter as I had the problem of being one syllable off and trying to have the correct rhyme scheme. However, I have overcome these obstacles. The volta is located in line 13 as I used “and yet” as my turning point in my sonnet. The turn or shift in meaning is that girl is trying to think what her love is towards this man and if they could start their love again or have a fresh start. I did use figurative language in my sonnet as an example is “ I always feel that like I’m in snooze” which explains if that he is daydreaming or living in a fantasy. My second simile that I used is “Like we aren’t strong as a house foundation” which explains that their love for each other is not “concrete.”The effect of using Shakespearean language in the sonnet to convey a modern song shows how close they are to modern English. Also, by shuffling the words around you will still get the central idea of sonnet/song.
Here is a lyrics video to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCheZ_Tswto
My Love is Too Strong for Thee
Behold, I knoweth not how to talketh to thee
My acquaintance needeth to bid me news
I knoweth not how to beest th’re at which degree
I always feel that like I’m in snooze
I believe that I has hath lost my patience
Alas I got as high as thy expectations
When I’m with you I get this sensation
Like we aren’t strong as a house foundation
It’s not you but thy love I give to thou
I realized thee has taken my love for granted
You aren’t taketh love serious anyhow
I think thee uses love as advantage
And yet, hath start our love anew?
I hath realized I’m too good for thee
I like your strategy of taking the most important lines and trying to make them fit into the sonnet format.
DeleteKatie Blake
ReplyDeleteMrs. Colando
English 9 Honors
6 June 2016
Pop Sonnet
The song I chose for my sonnet is “Somewhere on a Beach” by Dierks Bently. The song that I titled my sonnet is “Better Maiden.” These two titles relate because both describe a clear theme of the song which is relaxing with the new girl that is better than his old girl. The song title refers to the relaxing appeal of the girl and my poem title refers to the idea of having a better girl by his side. This girl is referred to by “maiden” to give it a Shakespearean view.Between my sonnet and the song I tried to get across the idea of having something better than you used to have. I did this by mentioning “dancing und’r the moon” and “ lacking valor” which implies that before there was no fun and this time there is no fighting. My strategy in making my sonnet seem like the song was by referencing the beach since that is a constant word in the song. I mentioned the beach by using the word shore and also I used the opening questions in the sonnet as well. The most challenging part about writing the sonnet was incorporating sound devices and figurative language. This is because once making the sonnet sound like the song it is difficult to put in different literary devices. It was hard enough to make the sonnet sound like the song, but to make a simile refer to the song as well is very difficult. My volta is located at line 9. The reason this is the volta is because the sonnet shifts from talking about oneself to talking about the new girl. The change in view from singular to plural is what changes within the poem. The figurative language and sound devices Ii used in my sonnet were alliteration, assonance, simile, and onomatopoeia. For alliteration I stated “..could calleth cause..” which shows the initial consonant sounds repeating. Then I used assonance which was “drinketh und’r the travel..” which repeats the vowel sound of -e. Next, the simile in my sonnet was “water as blue as man without no hench” which refers to blue water like a man is sad since he has no muscles. The last device I used was onomatopoeia which was “clank!” referring to two drinks hitting together. Using Shakespearean words help convey the song by giving it roots in the past and by changing the era in which the song was written. By doing this it shows a different way to convey a message.
Below is a link to the song
vevo.com/watch/dierks-bentley/somewhere-on-a-beach/USUV71600023
Better Maiden
Bet thee bethink I sitting at home, no
Thee bethink I alone bethink high-lone
Bet bethink I misseth you but outgrow
And wishing thee could calleth cause own phone.
Marry I some whither on the shore bench
I be drinketh an som’thing very stout,
The water blue as man without no hench
Fair maiden hath t going ‘on no doubt.
Clank! We drinketh und’r the travel lamp,
I danceth und’r the moon with shall her
I gone und’r to has’t my mind on vamp,
The lady hast a corse and lacking valor.
The lady has’t liketh thee nev’r hast
I not slipping I on the shore atlast.
Good song choice and analysis!
DeleteWilliam Shakespeare wrote many pieces of literature that are still admired today. One of the things he is most famous for was writing sonnets. Many people feel sonnets and poetry are very similar to songs. Therefore my class was given the task of creating a sonnet mimicking his sonnets’ structure. I chose the song “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child I decided to name my sonnet “A Change”. Both the original song title and my sonnet title relate to the message of the song, which is that someone is suspicious of their significant other. “Say My Name” means the someone wants the other person to have them first in their mind because they're suspicious the person may cheating. My title, “A Change” means someone can tell there has been a change and automatically thinks the other person is cheating on them. The theme of this song and the sonnet is that someone is concerned their partner is cheating on them. I connected my sonnet to the original song but taking some lyrics from the song and changing the words a bit to fit Shakespearean language but keeping the same message of the song. On a scale of one to ten based on difficulty I would score this a 7.5. This is because the concept of making a sonnet from a song was easy, and I came up with a lot of great ideas quickly, however the most difficult part was fitting in the Shakespearean language, two sound devices, and two examples of figurative language into the ideas I already had. But overall, I did not think it was too challenging. The volta in my sonnet I chose to put in line 13. Throughout the whole sonnet the narrator is talking about a new love and how the narrator is suspicious because they do not want to loose them. But, in line 13, there is a shift. Now the narrator is saying even though this love is great and I do not want to loose you, I will not forgive you if you are unfaithful. In my sonnet I used figurative language. The first example I used is a metaphor. I am comparing love to a flower that will decay. This is because I wanted to show the thought process behind my narrator. This flower represents something special that will not necessarily last forever. The second example of figurative language I used is an allusion. I referred to Shakespeare’s famous story Romeo and Juliet for two reasons. One was to represent the narrator wanting to be someone’s love of their life, and the second reason was to represent Shakespeare since the structural part of the sonnet is inspired by his work. As a part of the assignment requirement, we had to use at least ten examples of Shakespearean language. This type of language has an effect on the modern song because it shows how ideas, feelings and phrases can connect all the way back to Shakespeare. I much enjoyed this assignment because it made me think of how to fit the requirements into my own ideas, and it made me see how Shakespeare can still relate to my modern day times.
ReplyDeleteI like your song choice and the fact that you alluded to Romeo and Juliet!
DeleteHere is a link to the song I chose, as well as my sonnet.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQgd6MccwZc
Like beautiful flowers that will decay,
Our love could die before thou even know.
I long to be thy Juliet each day.
I call out to thee and smile although,
I sense there hath been a change and thy speech.
If thee are alone then call out for me.
I want to believe in the things you preach;
Ere anon you were calling me "Baby".
“Wherefore the sudden change?” I question thou.
And you tell me I am assuming things.
But I can't shake this feeling I have now.
I don't want to leave thee, and all thou bring.
Just know I will not sit here and be play’d.
Thy will regret the day I was betray’d.
Collision
ReplyDeleteThe song I chose to turn in a Shakespearean pop sonnet is Car Crash by Anna Nalick, and the title I chose for my song is Collisions. I found this title to be fitting for this pop sonnet because they both are referring the love within them like a car crash. The theme of the song and sonnet is that their love resembles to a car crash, that he is something of a beautiful disaster and if she were to stay any longer it would hurt her. I made connections clear between the two by using words such as disaster, and tragedy alongside the words of love. To show their love was of no good fortune and that nothing good were to ever come of it if she were to hold on any longer. My strategy of making the sonnet match the song was to have some of the words in the sonnet connect with those in song. I would say an eight for try the fit your sonnet into the rhyme schemes is quite difficult, anyone can write a pop sonnet, but it is quite difficult to write one that meets rhyme scheme requirements. The most challenging part of the poem was rhyme scheme because finding words that rhyme and that make sense with the lines isn't as easy as it seems. The Volta is in the couplet in the thirteenth line where the lover realizes that it's not worth holding on and that with a love like this it's better to let go. A figurative language used in the sonnet were similes “Our love like a car crash,” I used it in the beginning as a firm statement that the love was a beautiful disaster that was sure to tear each other apart. Another, “Fork in the road, bleeds my heart like a knife,” comparing the fork in the road as part of the crash as a knife that painfully cuts her heart open. The use of Shakespearean text on modern music is to give a feel of sonnets that were from older times strengthening the message within the modern music.
Here's a link to the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5VFwn3ko8s
Collisions
Hark, our love is wreck'd in wholly beauty
Our love like a car crash, I shan't look hence
Prithee I'm free, angels lay eyes with fie
To lose thy love, was worth more than a pence.
I grant thee to create a tragedy
Left me in such a wistful reverie.
Wherefore dost your love resent a volley?
Intentions too grim, breed melancholy.
Thou may have the intentions to break me
Fork in the road, bleeds my heart like a knife
My love for thou e'ermore, unlike thee
Bet you taste sweet, taste thee in another life.
But one wrong turn, means to ne'er look back
Shan't waste my life, on love that's lost its track.
This is an interesting song choice. It kind of reminds me of Romeo and Juliet
Delete"Anaconda Doth Not"
ReplyDelete“Anaconda”, by Nicki Minaj, and my sonnet “Anaconda Doth Not” are similar, because of many reasons. The titles relate because they are almost similar, but my title is just saying the anaconda does not, while the other one just says “Anaconda”. The theme of the song, said by Nicki, was just about the fun times she had and just relationships she had. The sonnet does the same thing because it talks about those relationships and fun times. To match the song, I looked at the lyrics, watched a video on theme, and then developed from there, picking the right lyrics to use. I would score this a 7.5 for challenge, and I say that because I mostly re-used very similar language with just shakespearean terms, but it was difficult to keep with the theme, and have a simile, metaphor, iambic pentameter, etc. The volta is line 9, “Oh my god look at her curvy buttocks”. This was the volta because once this line hits, it changes meaning, and it is no longer talking about Troy, but now someone else, who the song artist had fun with to. I used figurative language and sound devices. “My Anaconda doth not wanteth none” had that ‘O’ sound, so assonance, while “Hath crimes but that gent hath a big business” had the ‘B’ alliteration sound. I also had 2 similes, “that gent is tall like the eiffel” and “He tosses salad like his name’s Romaine”, which in both of those, they compare him to an object using like. The effect of using shakespearean language causes the reader to think on what the song is, and it gives them a feeling of a mix of modernity and older, and it is also funny to read if you know the actual song. “Anaconda”, and my sonnet, “Anaconda Doth Not” are both very similar, and both develop the same themes, meanings, and share a lot in common.
Link to Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nickiminaj/anaconda.html
This was a truly great song choice! Love it! I keep laughing when I think of this!
DeleteThe title of my song is I hate you I love u by Gnash featuring. The title of my sonnet is Mixed Feelings. These two relate because the song is about a girl who loves a guy, however she thinks the guy likes another girl. They guy however does miss the girl and still loves her. They both love each other though but hate each other after everything they put each other through. On a scale 1 to 10, I would rate writing this sonnet was a 7. The most challenging part of composing my sonnet was meeting the criteria. For example it was hard to get the two sound devices in my sonnet.
ReplyDeleteYou did not explain your use of figurative language.
DeleteI personally found this to be a very interesting project. At first I thought that it would be a simple and easy task, however it did end up being more difficult than I had originally thought. The hardest part in my opinion was following the rhyme scheme. I tried to stick as much as I could to the lyrics of “7 Nation Army” by The White Stripes; One example of this was the line from my sonnet “Everyone knoweth of all thy wit, from the monarch of england to the hounds of hell.” compared to the actual line “everyone knows about it, from the queen of England to the hounds of hell”, however I did have to change a lot to make the sonnet have as much Shakespearean language as possible while following the rhyme scheme. One line that I had to make completely on my own was “And now overthrown will be thy old thrones” I had to do this because I couldn’t find a line of the song that I could mend to rhyme with “bones”. I do like how the sonnet came out, however, I believe that I could try to make the sonnet flow more fluently than it currently does. Personally, I don’t feel that there would need to be many changes to the project in the future. And in my opinion the project was both interesting and at the same time quite interesting, to see songs that you have listened to be rewritten in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet.
ReplyDeleteGood strategy!
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the project!
DeleteThe song that I chose to base my sonnet off of his Habits by Tove Love. The title of my sonnet is called “ Mistakes” and I feel like this relates to the title of the song because a habit is something that you repeatedly do and it can either be good or bad, and this love that is described in this sonnet is a mistake that the girl keeps making that necessarily isn't the best choice for her. The theme of the song and this sonnet is a broken heart, I made connections between the song and the sonnet by reading into the pain that this girl was feeling because of this boy. The strategy that I chose when making the sonnet match the song was trying to have sort of a dark vibe to it like the song does, and adding “ You left your bad habits and I behind, now i'm stoned trying not to lose my mind” at the end to kind of relate to the lyrics of the song “ you're gone and I gotta stay high, all the time, to keep you off my mind”. On a scale of one to ten on how difficult it was to write this sonnet I would give it a nine because it was really hard to make it go along with all the guidelines, relate to the song, and actually sound like a sonnet. The most challenging part of composing the sonnet was trying to make it sound similar to the ones that we had heard in class and to try to make it good. The volta is found in the sixth line, and the sonnet goes from explaining some of the great things about this boy to talking about all of his downsides. I did use figurative language and said things such as “ he was a dark storm causing me fear” to describing the boys temper and his actions ,“ like sad songs every said word”. describing the breakup, and “ as dull as simple math”, describing the love.
ReplyDelete