NOTES 2- FINALS DISCUSSION

Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, - (volta  or the “turn” of the poem)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Guide Questions

1.Describe the structure of the sonnet. Identify the rhyme scheme used.
- It is written in 14 lines and contains the rhyme scheme ababcdcdefefgg. The first and third lines
and second and fourth lines rhyme, and the pattern continues until the last two lines, both of
which rhyme. Each line is 10 syllables long written in iambic pentameter. The structure can be
divided into three quatrains (four-line stanzas) plus a final rhyming couplet (two-line stanza).
The Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Couplet: It contains two-
line stanzas with the “AA” rhyme scheme, which often appears as “AA BB CC and DD…”

-Several poetic devices enhance the poem’s meaning through the use of form, imagery
(imagery of nature throughout the poem to proclaim his feelings about the beauty of his beloved.
He describes summer in a way that contrasts the kind of summer we usually picture. ), and
figurative language to express how his beloved possesses an eternal beauty that far surpasses
the brightness of that all-too-fleeting summer day.

2. Which two entities are compared by the poet? In what ways is one better than the other?
His beloved compared to summer OR a person and summer. He believes that his beloved is as
beautiful as summer. He expressed in the sonnet his thoughts to highlight his message about his
beloved and her superb appearance. His beloved appears to be more superior than summer, because
it demonstrates the perfection of the beloved being described . The beloved has become the very
standard by which true beauty can and should be judged. Shakespeare also describes the sun’s “gold
complexion as dimmed.” Hence, he downgraded the brightness of its ray as “dimmed.” Shakespeare
works to tear down all positive thoughts of summer.
3. What does "eye of heaven" refer to? How is its "gold complexion" dimmed in the real world?
"Eye of heaven" refers to the sun. The act of referring to the sun’s powerful glow as dimmed
only shows how William degraded the sun or it only shows that his beloved transcends all. In the real
world, I would compare it to our growth as humans wherein we shift from being in the stage of having
youthful beauty to describing what will happen after the youth eventually grows old and dies as
compared to ‘dimmed’. Our bright light or beauty or life is fated to fade or die naturally.

4. How was the poet able to ensure that his loved one's "eternal summer" will last forever?
The poet is able to ensure that his loved one's "eternal summer" will last forever by means of
the 9th line “But thy eternal summer shall not fade”. I understand this line as that his beloved won’t
lose the beauty she possesses, nor won’t have to return the beauty to nature by means of death just
like the real summer we are having that occurs annually. This also can be understood on the 11 th line
“Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,”.

5. In relation to the previous question, explain the couplet, or the last two lines of the sonnet.
“So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. “ first, that his poem is "eternal," because I believe that
men would eternally live by breathing and having eyes to see. and second, that it nourishes and
develops "thee," as it is where he/she is able to "grow." In simpler sense: as long as men live and can
read, this poem will continue to live, and so keep "thee" alive.

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Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is
esteemed by some scholars as the finest lyrical poet in the English language. Shelley’s major works were
long visionary poems such as "Adonais" and "Prometheus Unbound", but he is perhaps best known for
such anthology pieces as "Ozymandias", "Ode to the West Wind", "To a Skylark", and "The Mask of
Anarchy.*

*Text taken from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Guide Questions

1.What type of poem is "Ozymandias"?

“Ozymandias” is a sonnet.Structurally all sonnets contain fourteen lines and are written in
iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme of 'Ozymandias' is ABABACDC EDEFEF. Though the
rhyme scheme is somewhat unusual for a sonnet.

2. Is the poem based on a historical figure?

Yes, Shelley’s poem takes its title from the Egyptian king Ramesses II, known to the Greeks by
the name Ozymandias. In 1817, news broke that archeologists had discovered fragments of a funereal
statue of Ramesses II and intended to send the pieces to the British Museum. This discovery inspired
Shelley’s pen.

3. What type of imagery is most dominant in the text?

???????

4. Explain the irony of the words on the pedestal given the state of the statue and its surroundings.

--Based on the sonnet, specifically on the lines ;

“And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

- I could say that based on this lines and the impression that the author expressed in the sonnet,
he is indeed a ruthless leader, imposing fear on his people and obsessed with power. The
boastful king’s words have been ironically contradicted because all that remains with
Ozymandias is a work of art and his words that appeared on the pedestal. This was proven by
the latter part of the sonnet from which it says;

“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

For me, being the king of kings follows the thought of having everything- from the wealth of material
things to having an ally of people. But, the reality in which OZYMANDIAS dwells in the sonnet made
everything seems ironic. His statue and its surroundings had been ruined and left out in the desert with
his arrogant engraving. All his so-called ‘people’ is gone, all that’s left with him is his broken pieces and
dust. The once powerful seemed powerless in its state. Passage of time stole from him his privilege of
being powerful a justification that everything has its own end. Nothing lasts forever.

5. If you were given the chance to give an important piece of advice to powerful politicians, what would
you tell them?
 If given a chance to give a bit of important advice to powerful politicians, I will tell them
that they must Lead and not JUST rule. There’s a difference to that in the part that when you
lead it means that you’re a leader who’s insisting to do a thing first, to be followed by your
people. Unlike when you only rule, you’re not a leader but just a mere dictator of law like you
just speak it out without any actions for them to follow. Simply, they must lead by example.
They must lead by principles. I always put in mind that leadership is not about being a leader
alone, but it’s about working for the best of those you lead.  I’d like to tell them that they must
not be a ‘leader’ all the time. Not literally, but in the sense that letting someone else from your
people be the leader. Because I think that this makes sense in a situation when you recognize
and value your people’s voices and opinions, it would boost the growth and will bring out the
best of the community as a whole. After all, a leader will only become worthy of what others
had become because of him/her.

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” (They resist death, trying to win more time and
more life.)

Dylan Thomas (October 27, 1914 — November 9, 1953) was a Welsh poet and prose writer whose work
is known for its comic exuberance, rhapsodic lilt, and pathos.*

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a poem by the Welsh poet Dylan
Thomas, first published in 1951. Though the poem was dedicated to Thomas’s father,
it contains a universal message. The poem encourages the dying—the sick and the
elderly—to fight bravely against death. The poem also celebrates the vibrancy and
energy of human life, even though life is fragile and short.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Guide Questions

1.Identify and describe the structure of the poem.

A villanelle is a 19-line poem. Its first five stanzas are each tercets, which are three lines
long. Its final stanza is four lines, a quatrain. In the first stanza, lines 1 and 3 establish the
poem’s refrains, or repeating lines. The first line of the poem repeats at the end of stanzas 2 and
4, and as the second-to-last line of the poem. In other words, line 1 is also line 6, line 12,
and line 18. In turn, the third line of the poem repeats at the end of stanzas 3 and 5, and as the
poem’s final line. Thus line 3 is also line 9, line 15, and line 19. As a result, in the final two lines
of the poem, the two refrain lines are paired up, forming a rhyming couplet.

“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is a villanelle. Villanelles follow a very tightly
controlled and limited rhyme scheme. Indeed, there are only two rhymes in the whole poem:
words end in either "ight" or "ay." The first five stanzas of the poem (lines 1-15) are all
rhymed ABA. For example, in the first stanza the final words are "night"/"day"/"bright." The final
stanza of the poem (lines 16-19) is rhymed ABAA.

2. What does "dying of the light" mean?

 “light” is a symbol of life itself. Hence, dying of the light means the contrast to life- the death
itself. Life as compared to light, that no matter how bright it is, the inevitable darkness is waiting for it.
After all, we are all bound to die.

3. Why did the poet mention different kinds of people? How does it help him convey his ideas about
death?
In my opinion, the poet mentioned different kinds of people to convey his ideas about death to
exemplify how people face death differently.

4. Biographically, to what do analysts attribute the writing of the poem?

The poem was dedicated to Thomas’s father, but is also applicable or directed to all humans
specifically those who are near death—the sick and the elderly—to fight bravely against death.

5. How can you as a college student be motivated by the message of the poet?
As a college student, I am motivated by the message of the poet to make the most out of life in
every minute because we do not know the exact time that we will face death. I came to the
realization, that our time on earth is really limited and certainly will come to an end. Therefore, we
really should battle against death, trying to win more time and more life and more joyful memories to
remember afterlife.