Chapter 4

For this chapter I read sonnet 3 from Shakespeare and I will try to apply it to the chapter.

For starters, when I first looked at sonnet 3, it is in the shape of a square, making the title of the chapter totally appropriate. After the initial reading, I went back and did some of the things mentioned in the chapter to recognize a sonnet. I went and counted the syllables in a few of the lines, and sure enough they each came out around ten syllables each. I had already noticed a rhyme pattern but when I went over it again it was evident it was ABAB CDCD EFEF EE. Or atleast thats what I think it is. After reading this chapter I was certainly no expert on sonnets, but I did notice there are five sentences in sonnet 3. The chapter described sentences as breaking a sonnet into sections, so it can be assumed Shakespeare is breaking his sonnet into sections. The first sentence can be thought of as an initial assertion he is making, the next 2 sentences are sort of like inquiries, while the final 2 sentences are consequences and conclusions. Like the chapter says, a sonnet obviously will not be an epic tale, but and can have an effective or meaningful message in just the 14 lines. In this sonnet Shakepeare isn't really giving a message as much as just stating that if you want your genes to live on you must reproduce, or else "thine image dies with thee". It is an effective poem but I am not sure why he wrote it, unless he was worried about his own image not living on if he were to not have children. This sonnet, like I imagine any other, can easily be used and applied to this chapter, and that is why I chose it and took a swing at trying to apply what I learned from reading chapter 4 to it.