In the past week or two, we have been learning quite a bit about poetry and the structure. Even more specifically, poetry within Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Now I’m not quite sure about my fellow AP Lit classmates, but I know for sure that I am horrible with this! I can not even identify the syllables as stressed or unstressed so how do I identify the feet and than the rhythm? To me, everything is written in iambic pentameter! Consequently, I have a very tough time understanding why Shakespeare uses the techniques he does. For instance, why does he write in blank verse iambic pentameter? Why do some parts of the play switch from poetry to prose? Why is rhyme only used sometimes? Why is the meter broken part?
Some techniques I am familiar with are as follows; blank verse, which uses a rhythm and meter without an end rhyme along with free verse, which does not use a structured rhythm, meter, or end rhyme. Also, an elision is easy to understand. To keep the meter the same, Shakespeare leaves out an unstressed syllable. For example, in Act 1 Scene 3, Hamlet says, “…(Foul) deeds will rise, though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.” Luckily, I can also rhyme making the heroic couplet easy to recognize. It is two consecutive lines of iambic pentameter with end rhyme. A heroic couplet is used during Act 2 Scene 2, where Hamlet says, “… I’ll have grounds more relative than this. The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscious of the King.”
Overall, I know some simple techniques of poetry and sometimes how to identify them. Unfortunately, I struggle with the rest. These are just a few of my issues with Shakespeare and his ways. Oh poetry, how you frustrate me!
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I'm right with you there. I have diffuculty telling which is the stresses words in his lines. Escpessially a lot of the sentances could be read in multiple ways. My suggestion to you is go into a quiet room while trying to figure it out and pronounce it as you think it should be. if it doesn't sound right try it again and again until you think you got it right. That's at least what I do but it only helps a little.
ReplyDeletei noticed that hamlet switches between poetry and prose when something good or bad is happening, respectively.
ReplyDeletei completely agree with taylor. The differences in prose and poetry are confusing. But if you get too caught up in which is which, you miss the point and the enjoyment of the play. Personally, i just read the words for what they are and don't concentrate on the techniques so i can understand the plot.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the same page. But like Sophie said you can't get caught up prose vs. poetry. A lot of the time I'll end up re-reading passages cause the language trips me up, but some times you just have to trudge through it and get to meat of the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you. It's really difficult for me to identify poetry in the play. It's pretty easy to see when Hamlet or another character talks by themself for awhile, but if the poetry is in a conversation, I can't identify it at all. Sometimes it's a good thing to notice the breaks in meter because they signal something in the story, but it's definitely better to not concentrate on the poetry the first time reading Hamlet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emilie! It served me better to just read through the play roughly, or whatever segment we were on, and then fine tune it with my margin notes after we talked about it in class. Analyzing the poetry is time consuming, and it took me twice as long to get any work done when i was so busy breaking down the poetry without screwing me up. In class, it would be awesome to just do a quick read of the play before reading through and taking notes, because the plot is already figured out and you can concentrate and the finer points of the play more easily.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that all the stressed syllables is very confusing. I cannot tell the difference between prose and poetry. It all seems to sound the same when I read Hamlet. I just can't seem to understand why anyone would write a book in such a weird way. The prose and poetry confuses me, I think that Shakespeare should have stuck with one, prose or poetry, for each act.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it is tough to differentiate between prose and poetry. However, I think he switches between it depending on the situation. In satircal and casual scenes, Shakespeare tends to use more prose. On the other hand, in more serious and important scenes, he uses poetry to add to the dramatic effect.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with pretty much everything Taylor said. I have noticed the more I try and figure out what kind of rhythm they author is using the more I confuse myself. When I read Hamlet, I did not even know when they switched from prose to poetry. To be honest, I dont think that it mattered much. I mean I realize that poetry was used in more serious scenes and prose in not so serious scenes but when I read, I dont look for the spots when the author switches.
ReplyDeleteIt is very hard for me as well to find the meter and rhythm. But I can shed some light on why Shakespeare used different types of poetry. Shakespeare classically uses iambic pentameter to identify the main characters of the play as people whom we are supposed to like, are educated and all that fancy jazz. He also uses prose to do the opposite, prose identifies characters that Shakespeare dosent want us to like or think are very intelligent. For example, in The Taming of The Shrew, Petruchio's lines are almost all in iambic pentameter because Shakespeare wants the reader to like him while Grumio's lines are mostly in prose, identifying him as a character we are not supposed to like.
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