The Sonnet Challenge

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

2011-06-08T10:45:00.008-04:00

When I initially created this challenge, it was to do all 154 sonnets in one year. While we're not there yet, we are at over 70 sonnets - a pretty successful year if you ask me!

I've been doing lots of thinking about this project over the last six months. I've realized very recently that while I LOVE (seriously - LOVE) working on Shakespeare, it just doesn't make sense for me to continue with this project right now.

Because of what else I'm working on and how excited I am about it all, I'm finally at a point where I can't take time away to work on this challenge (I wondered if/when this day might come).

Thank you SO MUCH for your support and for your interest in what's been happening here. It's been nothing short of wonderful to work on these works week in and week out for the last year, and to share that with all of you.

You are always welcome to submit for the Challenge and I will definitely post it. This is not to say the Sonnet Challenge will never return; let's just say we're enjoying a lengthy intermission...

I do have a feeling I'll still involve Shakespeare in my life in some capacity - I can't get away from it that easily!

If you're interested in what else I'm doing, you can see over at Nonstop Awesomeness.

All the best,
Nathan

Day 72 - Sonnet #84: comparison, praise, verses, rival

2011-06-01T10:45:00.007-04:00

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WOW - it's already been ONE YEAR! :-)

If you'd like to see how it all began, here's Day #1. I think we've come a long way...

Who is it that says most, which can say more,
Than this rich praise, that you alone, are you?
In whose confine immured is the store,
Which should example where your equal grew.
Lean penury within that pen doth dwell,
That to his subject lends not some small glory,
But he that writes of you, if he can tell,
That you are you, so dignifies his story.
Let him but copy what in you is writ,
Not making worse what nature made so clear,
And such a counterpart shall fame his wit,
Making his style admired every where.
You to your beauteous blessings add a curse,
Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse.

What line or lines most resonate with you?

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 71 - Sonnet #59: beauty, birth, comparison, praise, time, history

2011-05-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

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Musical version

If there be nothing new, but that which is,
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which labouring for invention bear amis
The second burthen of a former child!
O that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done.
That I might see what the old world could say,
To this composed wonder of your frame,
Whether we are mended, or where better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
O sure I am the wits of former days,
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.

What line (or lines) most resonates with you?

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 70 - Sonnet #145: dark lady, hate, love, insecurity, mistress

2011-05-18T10:45:00.013-04:00

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a special thank you to Link for his cameo...

for more info on 145 - check out the Wikipedia page

Fun visual example

This isn't strictly by the text, but I LOVE how much energy they put into the interpretation - way to make it clear!

Those lips that Love's own hand did make,
Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate',
To me that languished for her sake:
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet,
Was used in giving gentle doom:
And taught it thus anew to greet:
'I hate' she altered with an end,
That followed it as gentle day,
Doth follow night who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away.
'I hate', from hate away she threw,
And saved my life saying 'not you'.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 69 - Sonnet #66: corruption, death, abandon, regret, dishonesty

2011-05-11T12:30:00.009-04:00

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Tired with all these for restful death I cry,
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimmed in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And gilded honour shamefully misplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly (doctor-like) controlling skill,
And simple truth miscalled simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill.
Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that to die, I leave my love alone.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 68 - Sonnet #21: muse, truth, comparison, verses, beauty

2011-05-04T12:15:00.008-04:00

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fyi - rondure = roundness, sphericity

So is it not with me as with that muse,
Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse,
Who heaven it self for ornament doth use,
And every fair with his fair doth rehearse,
Making a couplement of proud compare
With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems:
With April's first-born flowers and all things rare,
That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.
O let me true in love but truly write,
And then believe me, my love is as fair,
As any mother's child, though not so bright
As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air:
Let them say more that like of hearsay well,
I will not praise that purpose not to sell.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

May Sonnet Schedule

2011-04-30T08:45:00.001-04:00

Here's the schedule for the month of May - and do I remember correctly that April showers bring May sonnets? Either way, let's get out sonnets ON!

Week of May 2nd: 21

Week of May 9th: 66

Week of May 16th: 145

Week of May 23rd: 59

Week of May 30th: 84

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 67 - Sonnet #138: dark lady, truth, insecurity, age, love

2011-04-27T12:15:00.022-04:00

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some cool videos today - including footage of the RSC (Trevor Nunn & David Suchet) working on this sonnet!

AND - happy birthday to William Shakespeare! see how lots of other bloggers are celebrating at www.happybirthdayshakespeare.com, and follow the party on Twitter via the tag #HBWS.

from the vook "Shakespeare in the City"...

cool project for an English class...

Musical version...

Trevor Nunn & David Suchet working on sonnet 138...

When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue,
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 66 - Sonnet #62: jealousy, guilt, sin, self-love, defence

2011-04-20T12:15:00.012-04:00

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Mike Ackerman with another sonnet!

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye,
And all my soul, and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face so gracious is as mine,
No shape so true, no truth of such account,
And for my self mine own worth do define,
As I all other in all worths surmount.
But when my glass shows me my self indeed
beated and chopt with tanned antiquity,
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read:
Self, so self-loving were iniquity.
'Tis thee (my self) that for my self I praise,
Painting my age with beauty of thy days.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 65 - Sonnet #85: muse, modesty, praise, rival, superficial

2011-04-13T12:15:00.021-04:00

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My tongue-tied muse in manners holds her still,
While comments of your praise richly compiled,
Reserve thy character with golden quill,
And precious phrase by all the Muses filed.
I think good thoughts, whilst others write good words,
And like unlettered clerk still cry Amen,
To every hymn that able spirit affords,
In polished form of well refined pen.
Hearing you praised, I say 'tis so, 'tis true,
And to the most of praise add something more,
But that is in my thought, whose love to you
(Though words come hindmost) holds his rank before,
Then others, for the breath of words respect,
Me for my dumb thoughts, speaking in effect.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 64 - Sonnet #6: seasons, innuendo, procreation, death, immortality, treasure

2011-04-06T12:15:00.012-04:00

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Mr. Chile provides excellent context and notes, and there's a great reading:

from Joe:

and another solid reading:

Then let not winter's ragged hand deface,
In thee thy summer ere thou be distilled:
Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place,
With beauty's treasure ere it be self-killed:
That use is not forbidden usury,
Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
That's for thy self to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier be it ten for one,
Ten times thy self were happier than thou art,
If ten of thine ten times refigured thee:
Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart,
Leaving thee living in posterity?
Be not self-willed for thou art much too fair,
To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

April Sonnet Schedule

2011-04-02T12:15:00.006-04:00

Here's the schedule for the month of April (no foolin' :-) - let's get out sonnets ON!

Week of April 4th: 6

Week of April 11th: 85

Week of April 18th: 62

Week of April 25th: 138

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 63 - Sonnet #73: seasons, age, death, sun, appearance, beauty

2011-03-30T12:45:00.012-04:00

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Animated version:

Dramatic reading:

And I couldn't embed this version, but a really cool song is over here: http://www.macjams.com/song/26685

That time of year thou mayst in me behold,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day,
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self that seals up all in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 62 - Sonnet #93: deception, face, appearance, unfaithfulness, love

2011-03-23T12:15:00.010-04:00

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So shall I live, supposing thou art true,
Like a deceived husband, so love's face,
May still seem love to me, though altered new:
Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place.
For there can live no hatred in thine eye,
Therefore in that I cannot know thy change,
In many's looks, the false heart's history
Is writ in moods and frowns and wrinkles strange.
But heaven in thy creation did decree,
That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell,
Whate'er thy thoughts, or thy heart's workings be,
Thy looks should nothing thence, but sweetness tell.
How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow,
If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 61 - Sonnet #149: frenzy, dark lady, devotion, rejection, cruel, accusations

2011-03-16T12:15:00.004-04:00

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Modern Acoustic version - really terrific work!

An excellent interpretation:

Canst thou O cruel, say I love thee not,
When I against my self with thee partake?
Do I not think on thee when I forgot
Am of my self, all-tyrant, for thy sake?
Who hateth thee that I do call my friend,
On whom frown'st thou that I do fawn upon,
Nay if thou lour'st on me do I not spend
Revenge upon my self with present moan?
What merit do I in my self respect,
That is so proud thy service to despise,
When all my best doth worship thy defect,
Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?
But love hate on for now I know thy mind,
Those that can see thou lov'st, and I am blind.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 60 - Sonnet #3: reflection, procreation, death, immortality, innuendo, beauty, posterity

2011-03-09T11:15:00.014-05:00

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SC regular - Mike Ackerman!

Sonnet Joe:

and a short film:

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest,
Now is the time that face should form another,
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose uneared womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb,
Of his self-love to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime,
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
But if thou live remembered not to be,
Die single and thine image dies with thee.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 59 - Sonnet #40: love, accusations, mistress, loss, infidelity

2011-03-02T11:15:00.015-05:00

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Really awesome acoustic song:

John Gielgud:

Another version:

An original ensemble piece:

Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all,
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call,
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more:
Then if for my love, thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest,
But yet be blamed, if thou thy self deceivest
By wilful taste of what thy self refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery gentle thief
Although thou steal thee all my poverty:
And yet love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

March Sonnet Schedule

2011-02-26T11:45:00.004-05:00

Here's the schedule for the month of March (beware those Ides :-) - let's get out sonnets ON!

Week of March 1st: 40

Week of March 7th: 3

Week of March 14th: 149

Week of March 21st: 93

Week of March 28th: 73

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 58 - Sonnet #9: procreation, innuendo, immortality, regret

2011-02-23T11:45:00.006-05:00

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And a cool musical version!

Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye,
That thou consum'st thy self in single life?
Ah, if thou issueless shalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee like a makeless wife,
The world will be thy widow and still weep,
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep,
By children's eyes, her husband's shape in mind:
Look what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unused the user so destroys it:
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murd'rous shame commits.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 57 - Sonnet #61: jealousy, love, sleep, accusations, justifications, torment

2011-02-16T11:45:00.009-05:00

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Mike Ackerman makes another appearance here - excellent interpretation of the sonnet!

Cool song made from the lines - nice work here, too!

Another fun interpretation!

Is it thy will, thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,
While shadows like to thee do mock my sight?
Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry,
To find out shames and idle hours in me,
The scope and tenure of thy jealousy?
O no, thy love though much, is not so great,
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake,
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy sake.
For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
From me far off, with others all too near.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

February Sonnet Schedule

2011-02-12T11:45:00.000-05:00

Here's the schedule for the rest of February - let's get out sonnets ON!

Week of February 14th: 61

Week of February 21st: 9

Week of February 28th: 40

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 56 - Sonnet #147: personification, love, mistress, torment, infatuation

2011-02-09T11:15:00.030-05:00

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thanks to these awesome students for their contribution to the challenge!

and here are a few other interpretations...

a rap! many suggest that Shakespeare's structure is very similar to modern day hip-hop

musical version:

My love is as a fever longing still,
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th' uncertain sickly appetite to please:
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve,
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest,
My thoughts and my discourse as mad men's are,
At random from the truth vainly expressed.
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 55 - Sonnet #129: dark lady, hate, innuendo, personification, passion

2011-02-02T11:45:00.005-05:00

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So I mention that this sonnet is written from the male perspective - what do you think about that (whether you're male or not)? Is it accurate?

Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action, and till action, lust
Is perjured, murd'rous, bloody full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad.
Mad in pursuit and in possession so,
Had, having, and in quest, to have extreme,
A bliss in proof and proved, a very woe,
Before a joy proposed behind a dream.
All this the world well knows yet none knows well,
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 54 - Sonnet #41: betrayal, justifications, beauty, restraint, accusations

2011-01-26T11:45:00.006-05:00

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One cool note I didn't mention - in line 8, there is debate over whether it's "he" or she" in the phrase "have prevailed" - definitely an interesting point, and really cool how it shifts the power based on which pronoun one uses. Onto the sonnet!

Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits,
When I am sometime absent from thy heart,
Thy beauty, and thy years full well befits,
For still temptation follows where thou art.
Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won,
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed.
And when a woman woos, what woman's son,
Will sourly leave her till he have prevailed?
Ay me, but yet thou mightst my seat forbear,
And chide thy beauty, and thy straying youth,
Who lead thee in their riot even there
Where thou art forced to break a twofold truth:
Hers by thy beauty tempting her to thee,
Thine by thy beauty being false to me.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!

Day 53 - Sonnet #70: defence, accusations, slander, beauty, suspicion

2011-01-19T11:45:00.009-05:00

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That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair,
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve,
Thy worth the greater being wooed of time,
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.
Thou hast passed by the ambush of young days,
Either not assailed, or victor being charged,
Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise,
To tie up envy, evermore enlarged,
If some suspect of ill masked not thy show,
Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst owe.

As always - feedback, comments and creativity are welcome!