Starting Late

I might be a bit behind when it comes to starting this blog, but that's the story of my life. This blog is a project for my Shakespearean Literature class, and so far we've covered the sonnets, Comedy of Errors, and we just started on Taming of the Shrew. Because this is already the 5th week of the semester, I don't think I'll try to play catch up, but I will insert completed work where I think it fits. 

Just a quick review: With the Young Man sonnets, everything was idealized and the language was very pretty and flowery. Here Shakespeare tended to turn a blind eye when describing his love object, as if he was trying to describe the beauty of the Sun by looking straight at it--some liberties are taken for the sake of love. As the sonnets progress, Shakespeare changes his tone and they become the Dark Lady sonnets, which I actually prefer, because they are more honest, damning, and embedded with double meanings (which can get frustrating, but at least they are not boring). By the time he gets to the final Dark Lady sonnet, #152, Shakespeare has stopped making traditional love poetry and has written a confession of regret for his love object who did not turn out to be so ideal. It is no doubt that Shakespeare realized it is blasphemy to create art--or poetry in this case--because it impossible to present the ideal object through nature into a profane world. Pure re-presentation is a privilege that only God is allowed.