May I compare you to a winter night?

May I compare you to a winter night?
You are not lovely and less warm:
Rough winds you bring giving much fright,
And winter long brings wet and cold swarm;
Sometimes too much your cold brings,
And often is your silver complexion marred;
And every bad from bad sometimes sings,
By chance but leaving myself scarred;
But your eternal winter never fade,
Nor freeze in time of cold disposition;
Nor shall life ever deem you proper grade,
Where till the end of time I am your mission:
So long as I can see or summer is hot,
So long lives this, and dear I want you not.

For my creative project, I decided to do a spin on Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” where instead of expressing an absolute, drawn out love, it would almost be like a response to the speaker in Shakespeare’s sonnet, from the woman, who wants nothing to do with the speaker and rebuffs him. I also don’t enjoy sonnet form, as I feel like it’s just fluff, and I felt as if Shakespeare’s sonnet perfectly personified that. Of course, since it was meant to be in modern times, I tried to adjust the line as best as possible to fit standard iambic pentameter with some alterations in places due to modern words just having different pronunciations and spellings. I thought that since the original sonnet was super drawn out due to the nature of sonnet structure, it would be essential to my parody if I also elongated the dislike and rejection, which I do.

Overall, my sonnet follows the Shakespearean sonnet form, with fourteen lines and the volta also still remains intact and in line with usual structure, here being in lines 9 and 10. I also kept the rhyming pattern of ABAB, which I felt like was absolutely necessary for the sonnet to read well, and I almost felt like by staying within the structure, it would mock Shakespeare in almost the ridiculousness of the sonnet and how overdone and drawn out it is. I also thought that in mentioning “summer” in line 13 was also necessary, just because it calls directly back to the original, reminding readers that this is in fact a response to “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.” I thought that by keeping almost identical style and form in my project, it would show that the sonnet is still as ridiculous today as it was when Shakespeare original wrote it– it’s incredibly drawn out, almost comically, and I thought that in just adjusting the language and meaning, it could still be shown that sonnets are really just a poem with an undesirable amount of fluff.

Going back to the modern audience, I felt as if that sonnets would be less recognized, and the form would go more or less undetected, so I felt that language choices would be incredibly important. Although the vocabulary isn’t exactly colloquial, the average reader could still discern that the sonnet is about someone that the speaker just absolutely despises. Since the original sonnet is just an incredibly drawn out confession of love, seemingly ridiculous as well, I wanted to keep the same energy of the original in the rejection of love, and since contemporary generations generally are more receptive to rejection and failure, I felt that in ridiculing the person at hand in the sonnet would be perfect. Current generations love to jump down a person they hate’s throat, so I felt that an incredibly drawn out rejection that’s quite aggressive as well would be both well received and understood.

So, the basic gist is sonnets suck, free verse is better and always will be. Attached below is what I listened to while writing this; I found it incredibly relevant and important to my analysis and musing while writing this.

Isaak Puth

In-class Blog Comments:

In groups of four, students will read the two blog posts below with the goal of revising their interpretations of the sonnet. Students will discuss specific aspects of the blog post that can be improved through further close reading. DO NOT simply praise the post or agree with it! Each student will then write their own comments (2-3 sentences) in that blog post’s reply box.

Begin with this blog post by Edmund: https://poetryintroduction.wordpress.com/2024/04/04/shakespeares-sonnet-and-the-classroom-performance/

And then this one by my former student: https://poetryintroduction.wordpress.com/2021/11/02/cohesion-and-neurosis/

Pretty and Ugly

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, “My mistress’ eyes are Nothing like the Sun”, meaning is enhanced by Catherine Tate’s classroom performance by mocking the traditional conventions of love in love poetry.

Throughout the sonnet, Shakespeare mainly relies on hyperbole and imagery to describe the love he has towards his mistress. Instead of comparing, the speaker contrasts her to nature. Traditionally, poets are likely to compare their lover to nature to complement their physical appearance and personality, however by the speaker doing the opposite, he’s stating he loves his mistress more than he loves his beloved, who possibly could be his wife. The overall situation is showing infidelity. How so? The biggest hint is this poem is about a mistress. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there are numerous definitions, but one in particular states that a mistress is, “A woman other than his wife with whom a married man has a continuing sexual relationship.”  From what is observed through the sonnet is Shakespeare uses a lot of imagery to describe this mistress. He starts off with, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” (Shakespeare, Line 1). Just by calling her “mistress” the readers can identify that this ‘love’ poem isn’t the traditional love poem. The speaker is talking about an extramarital relationship, which in some perspectives, is considered unfaithful and absurd. He continues by stating, “eyes are nothing like the sun.” (Line 1) The sun is bright. From stating her eyes are not the sun, the speaker is indicating her eyes are not bright or shiny. So, is he claiming her eyes are dull? Isn’t this the opposite of a compliment towards a woman? It’s not the only example of imagery he provides, he continues with “Coral is far more red than her lips red;” (Line 2). For some, red lips are an attractive and beautiful feature in women. From stating, “Coral is far red than her lips-” (Line 2). He’s basically claiming her red lips are not as attractive or as vibrant as coral.  This is where hyperbole appears. The speaker becomes exaggerated when describing his mistress’ physical attributes, to make the differences more apparent between the beauty of nature and hers. The imagery gives readers a possible visual on how his mistress looks which isn’t really pleasing. He mentions, “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun.” (Line 3). The era and place this sonnet were written in should also be considered since it will provide a deeper understanding on how these physical details are being negative. In England, precisely around the 1600’s, the whiter a woman was and the redder her lips were the more beautiful they were considered. In this case, this poem, is describing the complete opposite, it is a woman with dull eyes, light red lips, tannish breasts, and unruly black hair. Does it stop there? No. The speaker trails off to the color of her cheeks next, stating, “I have seen roses demasked, red, and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks.” (Shakespeare, Lines 5 and 6). A rose is the traditional symbol of love and beauty, to say that there are no such roses in her cheeks- Is he calling his mistress ugly?  Is he trying to humiliate her? Compliment her? Does he even love her? He even goes on to describing her breath, mentioning, “And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” (Lines 7 and 8). He’s even saying her breath isn’t pleasant and stinks. There is exaggeration happening with these lines since he’s stating some perfumes are better to smell than her breath, but why is he saying this? The things he says are quite horrendous, however by stating such things, the speaker is giving his mistress her place. He’s seeing her as who she is and is not describing her with common nature comparisons love poems give when describing their lovers. That’s how Shakespeare mocks traditional love poems. Though it’s ugly, the speaker is demonstrating that his mistress’ beauty is one of a kind, and something that popular attributes that most love poems use cannot describe.

How is this whole meaning enhanced by Catherine Tate’s classroom performance though? When Catherine portrayed that insolent school girl, her attitude was very hideous from the start. Though Shakespeare was more physically descriptive, not too much on behavior they can still be connected in the aspect that both the sonnet and Catherine’s character showed a type of ugliness. She uses the poem as a way to threaten her teacher. She was very aggressive and quick when she recited it enforcing that point. Why though? Why did she use the poem? She transformed the poem’s meaning by literally breaking the beauty ideals in poetry. Even though Shakespeare’s sonnet was quite ugly with its various examples of vivid contrasting imagery, surely, he didn’t want his poem to be read in such a harsh and quick manner, so by Catherine reciting the poem in such a tone and pace, it makes the ugliness stand out more within Shakespeare’s sonnet, “My mistress’ eyes are Nothing like the Sun.”

-Claudia Dominguez

Shakespare sonnet

Shakespeare’s sonnet, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” has 3 quadrants and one couplet at the end two lines. The turn happens before the couplet with the speaker saying: “and yet..” There are many things going on in this sonnet. The speaker starts off saying how the mistress doesn’t have bright eyes. Many people would compare another’s eyes to the sun for how bright and loving their eyes are, but here the eyes are not compared to the sun. The speaker starts body shaming her saying how her breasts are a dull brown color and not white as the snow. In the first two quadrants, the speaker focuses on more of her body, which he doesn’t find pleasant. He mentions how her cheeks are red, meaning there is no love coming from her. He compares her hair to wires and doesn’t find her looks appealing. In the third quadrant, he starts admiring her voice, but still says how “music hath a far more pleasing sound,” (line 10). 

To answer the question, Catherine Tate performed it with a lot of passion. She used hand gestures and had a fast pace tone when reciting the sonnet. During the skit, Catherine was rambling on and complaining how the teacher is Scottish and not British because she believes that you have to be British to teach an English class. She then abruptly starts reciting the sonnet. The teacher says at the end that another rose wouldn’t be the same as current rose meaning you can’t compare the two, which is stated in the end of the sonnet: “as any she belied with false compare.”

Gurranvir Kaur

Shakespeare and comedic enhancement

Shakespeare’s Sonnet revolves around him belittling a woman, due to the differences in her actions and what he believes a woman should be doing. While ultimately still showing love for her despite those differences. This idea is further enhanced within the BBC comic relief video. Catherine Tate and David Tate both provide amazing performances that aid in improving many aspects of Shakespeare’s sonnet. Catherine’s character is more lively while still encompassing the “Dull” characteristic that’s described in the original sonnet. Often interrupting the class and making snide comments about the teacher as he desperately tries to move the conversational topic back to Shakespeare himself. Eventually, this leads to the teacher confronting the student, much like how Shakespeare confronts the women for acting improperly. The student then proceeds to perfectly and passionately recite Shakespeare, during which he sees some shock and slight hints of respect come from the teacher’s facial expressions. We can interpret this to be the other idea within Shakespeare’s sonnet that despite the many imperfections there is still love for the person. Finally, the confrontation between the two ends with the teacher transforming the student into an action figure and continuing the lesson. Overall the comedic skit serves well to present the idea despite what could be deemed as “flaws” love and admiration can still be seen within a person. Despite Catherine Tate’s character being portrayed as rude or annoying, we notice that the character has an extremely in-depth understanding of Shakespeare, being able to recite it flawlessly and connect its themes to a real-life situation. The Skit enhances the theme by connecting it outside of the simple idea of politeness and beauty, but rather connects the theme to the characteristics of intelligence and wit, and how they can be present within characters who might not act in those ways at face value.

– Eduardo Ojeda Jr

Shakespeare’s Sonnet and the Classroom Performance

To really get a deeper look into this, let’s first look at the sonnet by Shakespeare, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” First, the one thing we must remember is that this will follow the Shakespearean format of three quatrains before suddenly hitting a turn, and having to rhyme couplets, GG. Next, there are a couple dominant themes, with the main ones being a male speaker expressing love or lust to a heavily idealized female subject, sexuality/sensualness, and multiple forms of love (religious, spiritual, psychological). Now, let’s look through the sonnet itself.

As we slowly look through Shakespeare’s sonnet, it’s clear that we aren’t exactly leaning into the dominant themes of love and idealization, but rather, an ironic opposite. The first three Quatrains are of heavy rhetorical/mocking themes, as he mentions how his mistress’s eyes are nothing like a sun, which is an often ‘romantically compared feature,’ nor is his mistress’s breasts dull while snow is white. This comparison lasts for the first three quatrains before the turn happens. You see, right before this ends, Shakespeare, at the ‘turn’ section of his sonnet suddenly states that all these false comparisons are silly. I believe he’s essentially stating that why compare someone with perhaps, wires? Or in most romantic stories/poems/audio/sonnet/etc, snow, rose, and so on.

Now, to answer the question, how is the meaning of this sonnet transformed by Catherine Tate’s performance? Catherine Tate begins the start by rambling on and on with her teacher, consistently making remarks about him being Scottish, not born in England, and so on. However, after careful back and forth, almost like the comparisons made in Sonnet 130’s first three Quatrains, the table is suddenly turned, and Catherine begins to recite the Sonnet quickly and accurately without a hitch. At the end, Mr.Logan mentions something about a rose by any other name that would simply smell just as sweet. While I’m not entirely insightful on this part, to me, it narrowly relates to Sonnet 130’s last line, ‘with false compare.” That line for Shakespeare means that regardless of what his Mistress is compared to, she’s still the most beautiful individual in his eyes, which I could feel relates to the part where Mr.Logan says, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

One thing of interest as well is how Catherine believed that Logan couldn’t teach English due to his heritage, which I thought could’ve correlated with how many individuals saw Shakespeare’s poetry as elitism, akin to what Catherine believes about English – a language that could only be taught by someone born in England. Perhaps, while the main structure of the sonnet relates to the skit, in the end, Shakespeare’s poem is about how even without comparisons one is still the most beautiful in his eyes, the skit is more alongside the lines of harsh contrast. – Edmund F.

Pretenious Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” is one of the most famous, and well-known sonnets in the world. It consists of 14 lines. Its couplet occurs in the final two lines. It has a volta, which is the turning point from problem to solution, in line 13. One of the sonnets five major themes, is of a male speaker talking about his lover, in an idolized way. But in Shakespeare’s sonnet, the speaker does not idolize his lover. Instead, he puts her down, to mock men who compare their lovers to pretty, glamorous things in an excessive way. As though they have no other way to speak of their lovers, if not through their looks. It is misogynistic. There is no other way to put it. Shakespeare too seems to find these loud, boisterous proclamations of ‘love’ ridiculous. So, he mocks them in his sonnet to show such proclamations are not needed to express how passionately one loves their lady. In the beginning of the sonnet, the speaker says his “mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (line 1). The sun is a bright ball of energy that gives light to Earth. To say his lover’s eyes are unlike the sun, implies they are dull and lackluster. They are nothing special. He then goes on to say he has seen roses of red and white, “but no such roses see I in her cheeks” (line 6). Her cheeks lack color; they are never flushed. Again, there is a dullness to her. He then goes on to say that her breath reeks, unlike perfumes. That while he loves to hear her speak, “music hath a far more pleasing sound” (line 10). In the final two lines, he claims his love is rare “as any she belied with false compare” (line 14). While Shakespeare mocks men who use flattery to speak of their lovers, he is not so much better himself. This point is driven by Catherine Tate’s classroom performance. Her character claims Shakespeare is repetitious and extremely dull. Her teacher fights back and argues she is “not worthy to mention his name”, and that Shakespeare is a genius, and she is not. Catherine’s character is insolent, but it does not warrant the harmful things said to her by her teacher. But I like how she fights back. I think the lover of the speaker in Shakespeare’s sonnet would too. Catherine’s lack of respect for Shakespeare, ultimately transforms the sonnet’s meaning. Shakespeare goes from a man seemingly fighting back against misogyny to being rather pretentious. It is as though he believes himself to be superior to other men because he sees his lover not for her looks, but for who she is inside. Because his love is not superficial. There were better ways to approach this notion than coming for her appearance. It can be argued the teacher in the BBC video represents Shakespeare. He is the authoritative character, the one with the power. He, too, presents himself in a pretentious way. He does not joke around nor laugh at Catherine’s jokes. And when her character critiques Shakespeare, he takes major offense and verbally attacks her. This feels very reminiscent of Shakespeare and sheds light on his pretentiousness. Now, the sonnet is not as romantic as it seems.

Bella Cortez

Mockery within the sonnet

In the video with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, I interpreted the video’s objective to dismiss Shakespeare’s sonnet, “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun,” and dismiss Shakespeare himself as a writer. At the beginning of the video, while Tennant and Tate are quarreling, Tennant says, “You’re repetitious and extremely dull,”” to which Tate bites back by saying, “A bit like Shakespeare.”” So before Tate even began reciting the sonnet, I knew that the sonnet would be recited in a different way than I had interpreted the poem to be read. When Tate recites the poem, I feel as though there is anger, a mockery, to prove a point that it doesn’t take a genius to recite a sonnet, trying to debunk Tennant’s idea that Shakespeare is a genius, unlike Tate. It was as if Tate recited the poem with one breath; she did not stop to take any breaks to take a breath, which I thought was different from Shakespeare’s sonnet. In Shakespeare’s sonnet, I took his punctuation marks as a sign to stop; for example, one line says, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;” (lines 1-2). So, when reading his sonnet, I pause after “sun” and “read,” which Tate does not acknowledge when she recites the sonnet. There is a lack of passion when Tate recites her version of the sonnet, and the recitation of the sonnet makes the original meaning lose its romantic aspect. I say this because I interpreted Shakespeare’s poem to say that his mistress’s eyes don’t resemble the sun, and she has all of these flaws, but he still sees the beauty within her; for instance, one line writes, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare” (line 13).  I also noted the gender dynamic between Shakespeare and Tate, which may have influenced how Tate recites the poem. Maybe Tate recites the poem in a way that mocks Shakespeare because of how his sonnet describes his mistress, saying she does not amount to things like the sun or smell good, but he still loves her, which can be viewed as backward.

Janayah Applon

A Voice for Those Unheard

1. How is the meaning of Shakespeare’s sonnet transformed or enhanced by Catherine Tate’s classroom performance?

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, the speaker does not include his lady’s thoughts, and yet claims to “love to hear her speak” (line 9). This “mistress” plays a passive role because she cannot speak to us in a poem that is entirely from his perspective. The speaker also does not address the subject of this sonnet directly. He writes about his love, but his audience is a third party (and not her). Despite this, the speaker found a love that is incomparable to anything. He explains that his love is human yet beyond the sun, coral, snow, roses, perfumes, music, or goddesses. He ends the sonnet by saying that his “love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (lines 13-14). Cheap clichés would not suit this lady. She cannot be compared to anything because that comparison would result in a false simile. 

In comparison, Tate’s performance of the sonnet is vocal, angry, and defiant. Tennant’s character claims that Tate’s character is “not even worthy to mention [Shakespeare’s] name”. The student proves her knowledge of Shakespeare by defying her teacher’s order to be quiet and reciting “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”. Her voice is firm and even forceful at moments. Tate speaks rapidly, takes quick breaths, and adds hand gestures throughout the poem. (Seen at “I have seen roses damasked, red and white”, “Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks”, and “I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress” (lines 5, 8, 11-12)). Her performance is not just through her voice. She embodies the sonnet through her hands, head movements, eye contact, and raised eyebrows. She puts her whole body into a passionate performance. Towards the end of the sonnet, she disregards the punctuation and recites the lines without pauses, “My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. / And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare” (lines 12-13). The student wastes no time on the last lines of the poem because she is only reciting it to prove her teacher wrong. Although Tate’s character knows the sonnet by heart, she makes pacing modifications to suit her point. If we assume the volta is between lines 12 and 13, then Tate has sped through it. Since this student dislikes Shakespeare, she does not care about this element of his sonnet. Her performance adds a layer of aggression and anger that is not present in the words alone. The student employs Shakespeare’s sonnet as a vessel for her anger towards her teacher. She uses her voice and body to transform this one-sided love confession into a bold act of defiance. In the end, Tate gives voice to an objectified woman only for Tennant’s character to objectify her. When he turns her into a doll, it is his attempt to silence her and render her powerless.

~Miki Chroust

Nothing Like the Original

Catherine Tate’s classroom performance of “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” completely enhances the original intention of the sonnet, specifically through the purpose behind the sonnet. Tate’s performance of the sonnet takes a new spin on the sonnet, where Shakespeare’s original intention was to describe the temptation behind the speaker’s mistress, evidently through the usage of juxtaposition in the sonnet. For instance, the speaker states that “music hath a far more pleasing sound,” yet he “love[s] to hear her speak.” (Shakespeare ll. 9-10). Tate technically makes a subtle point of this in her delivery because Tennant is unable to stop her from talking, but continues to let her speak despite, eventually, he reveals that he can in fact make her stop talking. Tate, instead of making the main purpose of the sonnet obviously, she makes it more subtle and exact, poking fun at Tennant and even Shakespeare, perhaps taking a more feminist spin on the sonnet, pushing back at male power through her ability to speak back towards Tennant.

Moreover, since sonnets are traditionally male in their speakers, Tate transforms the traditional delivery through her gender, as she delivers a sonnet that is inherently male in its details. Tate uses the sonnet as a satirical jumping board, where she mocks Tennant in his insistence in teaching Shakespeare, as her main point throughout the video is that poetry is pointless, and through her delivery, she points out how ridiculous and stupid the actual lines of the sonnet are, as her delivery, as passionate as it is, almost pokes fun at how a sonnet usually is– passionate, completely over the top, and incredibly objectifying. That is, objectifying for men to gaze upon women’s bodies in a place of power, looking down at them. Her delivery creates an air of ridicule around the sonnet, which transforms the sonnet’s purpose, as the original purpose was to express love for a women, but here, Tate uses it to mock Shakespeare and Tennant effectively.

Isaak Puth