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Shakespeare the Non-dramatic Poet
Robert Ellrodt
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| Seminar Introduction |
Complex and mysterious, witty, intimate and ironic, Shakespeare's Sonnets have fascinated and puzzled readers for 400 years. They contain some of the most beautiful love poetry in English, but there is also much about them that is dark, hard-edged and harsh. There is innocence and delight in many of the poems, but there is also illusion and self-delusion, along with the ever-present awareness of time and mortality.  The Sonnets present a world of glittering, punning language, but this is also a world of flesh and death.
Once introduced, most readers of Shakespeare's Sonnets return to them again and again to enjoy their pleasures, to wrestle with their puzzles and to confront the fundamental truths they contain. A rigorous approach to the texts of the poems, and an understanding of how they relate to the literary world of Elizabethan England, enhances the appreciation of those pleasures and puzzles, and perhaps brings the reader closer to the truths.
In this seminar, developed from his contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies, Robert Ellrodt offers a detailed and rigorous reading of Shakespeare's Sonnets and an introduction to the playwright's narrative poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. Professor Ellrodt considers the Sonnets within the tradition and conventions of the English sonnet form, and he discusses Shakespeare's key innovations. He analyses questions about the ordering of the poems and explores their language and imagery.
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| Learning Objectives |
- Identify the main innovations in Shakespeare's use of the sonnet form.
- Outline the key arguments about the ordering of Shakespeare's Sonnets.
- Describe how ideas and ideals of love are presented in the Sonnets.
- Outline aspects of the dominant imagery of the Sonnets.
- Discuss the conventional and the experimental aspects of Shakespeare's narrative poems.
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| Sessions |
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| Credits |
This seminar is adapted from 'Shakespeare the non-dramatic poet' by Robert Ellrodt in 'The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies', edited by Stanley Wells, Cambridge University Press. Copyright Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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| Technical Requirements |
To appreciate this seminar experience, it is critical that you have the appropriate software, plug-ins, and network connections. Please take the time to download the latest versions of the plug-ins mentioned below if you do not already have them.
Browser: Netscape versions 4.x up to 4.76, or Internet Explorer versions 4.x or later. Your browser must be JavaScript-enabled and must be set to accept cookies.
Network Connection: The recommended minimum connection is 56Kbps with a throughput of 34Kbps or more. A faster connection is encouraged to take better advantage of the media elements in the seminar.
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