ENG 2DI
Grand River Collegiate Institute
“Sonnet #29” – William Shakespeare
(as performed with music by Rufus Wainwright)
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
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I all alone beweep* my outcast state,
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And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless† cries,
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And look upon myself and curse my fate,
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Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
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Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
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Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
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With what I most enjoy contented least;
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Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
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Haply I think on thee--and then my state,
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Like to the lark ‡ at break of day arising
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From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate;
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For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, ________________________________
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
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1. As with the last sonnet, write out what each line means in the clearest and
simplest language possible. (The more you do this, the better prepared you
will be for the play)
*
†
‡
weep for
useless
a small, brown songbird that often sings at the break of dawn
2. Where is the turn/volta in this sonnet?
3. Why is heaven described as deaf? (Bonus:
what is the name of the literary device being
used here?)
4. Is this an effective sonnet? Why or why not?
You will need to stop for a bit and decide as a
group what makes a sonnet effective (think
about what we said about the sonnet’s
content and about its form last class).
How this sonnet would have
looked when it was published
(1609)
5. What is your opinion of Rufus Wainwright’s version? Does it enhance the
effect of the sonnet or does it take the poem into the “dangerous” territory we
talked about last class?