This poem is a Shakespearean sonnet that explores the speaker's grief over the death of his wife. In the first quatrain, the speaker imagines finding his wife alive in their bedroom with her books, as if preparing for a holiday. In the second quatrain, he sees her watching him through a kaleidoscope, representing her in different forms. At the volta, the poem shifts tone as the speaker climbs the stairs daily to look into the room where she died, with his hands becoming a tray offering his own flesh in grief. The couplet expresses the speaker's inconsolable grief and desire for forgiveness, though not knowing why.

1. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? FORM – What
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. kind of poem is
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, this? How do you
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. know?
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
1.
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
2.
3.
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
4.
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
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.

2. The Shakespearean Sonnet:
‘The Little Black Dress of Poetry’
Learning Objective:
AO2: Demonstrate detailed critical
understanding in analysing the ways in
which structure and form shape meaning.
A: Insightful and conceptual with extremely
detailed reference to texts.
B: Relevant and analytical with detailed
reference to text.
C: Appropriate and effective with worthwhile
reference to text.

3. Shakespearean Sonnet Form and Structure
_________
_________ 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 dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;
__________ But thy eternal summer shall not fade
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.
Lines

4. Shakespearean Sonnet Form and Structure Rhyme can also be:
ABBA/ CDDC/ EFFE/ GG
Iambic
_________
pentameter
_________ Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? A
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. B
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, A Quatrain
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. B
octave
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, C
And often is his gold complexion dimmed, D
And every fair from fair sometime declines, C Quatrain
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed; D
volta
__________ But thy eternal summer shall not fade E
F
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Quatrain
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade
E
sestet
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. F
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, G
14 Lines! G Couplet
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

5. But that’s just a load of
terminology? How do we make it:
A: Insightful and conceptual with extremely
detailed reference to texts.
B: Relevant and analytical with detailed
reference to text.
C: Appropriate and effective with worthwhile
reference to text.
We need to understand why a
writer would use a sonnet form and
how it effects a reader.

15. Conflict between Content and Form
Overwhelming/ Contradictory/ Confusing Emotion
VS
Tight/ organised/ Rule-driven/ Pedantic Form

16. Fill in the grid on whether this sonnet meets the regular
form and structure of a Shakespearean sonnet. Tick/
cross initially. Choose at least five sections to find a
detailed quote from and explain effect.
The Kaleidoscope

17. The Kaleidoscope – Douglas Dunn
Is this
typical To climb these stairs again, bearing a tray, Look closely at
imagery? Might be to find you pillowed with your books, this rhyme –
what’s unusual?
Your inventories listing gowns and frocks
As if preparing for a holiday.
How has the
Or, turning from the landing, I might find rhyme scheme
Who is
watching My presence watched through your kaleidoscope, changed since
who? Is it A symmetry of husbands, each redesigned the previous
typical? quatrain?
In lovely forms of foresight, prayer and hope.
I climb these stairs a dozen times a day
And, by the open door, wait, looking in What has
What At where you died. My hands become a tray happened to the
changes at sentences here?
Offering me, my flesh, my soul, my skin.
the volta?
Grief wrongs us so. I stand, and wait, and cry
How many
For the absurd forgiveness, not knowing why. syllables are in
this line?

18. The Kaleidoscope – Douglas Dunn
To climb these stairs again, bearing a tray,
Might be to find you pillowed with your books,
Your inventories listing gowns and frocks
As if preparing for a holiday.
Or, turning from the landing, I might find
My presence watched through your kaleidoscope,
A symmetry of husbands, each redesigned
In lovely forms of foresight, prayer and hope.
I climb these stairs a dozen times a day
And, by the open door, wait, looking in
At where you died. My hands become a tray
Offering me, my flesh, my soul, my skin.
Grief wrongs us so. I stand, and wait, and cry
For the absurd forgiveness, not knowing why.

19. What is the significance of
the title ‘The Kaleidoscope’?
What is the relationship between the
kaleidoscope and Dunn’s choice of an irregular
sonnet as his form?

20. Choose your best comment on structure
or form in the poem. Does it?
A: Sophisticated and perceptive with
extremely detailed reference to texts.
B: Secure and systematic with detailed
reference to text.
C: Appropriate and effective with worthwhile
reference to text.
Remember the focus is on why a
writer would use a sonnet form and
how it effects a reader.

21. Your Turn!
In pairs, read your new sonnet in the pack...
Fill in the grid on structure and form –
commenting on at least 4 moments.
In 20 minutes you will present your poem back
to the class! Explaining how the poet uses
form and structure to shape meaning.

22. Success Criteria
A: Sophisticated and perceptive with
extremely detailed reference to texts.
B: Secure and systematic with detailed
reference to text.
C: Appropriate and effective with worthwhile
reference to text.
Remember the focus is on why a
writer would use a sonnet form and
how it effects a reader.

23. Thomas Wyatt – I find no peace – c. 1520
I find no peace, and all my war is done.
I fear and hope, I burn and freeze like ice,
I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise,
And naught I have, and all the world I season.
That loosest nor locket, holdeth me in prison,
And holdeth me not, yet can I scape no wise,
Nor letteth me live, nor die at my device,
And yet of death it giveth me occasion.
Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain,
I desire to perish, and yet I ask health,
I love another, and thus I hate myself,
I feed me in sorrow and laugh in all my pain,
Likewise displeaseth me both death and life,
And my delight is causer of this strife.

24. Shakespeare – My mistress’ eyes- Sonnet 130 – c.1600
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red.
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go:
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

25. John Keats – When I have fears - 1819.
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love!—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to Nothingness do sink.

26. Am I To Lose You? - Louise Bevington - 1881
‘Am I to lose you now?’ The words were light;
You spoke them, hardly seeking a reply,
That day I bid you quietly ‘Good-bye,’
And sought to hide my soul away from sight.
The question echoes, dear, through many a night,—
My question, not your own—most wistfully;
‘Am I to lose him?’ asked my heart of me;
‘Am I to lose him now, and lose him quite?’
And only you can tell me. Do you care
That sometimes we in quietness should stand
As fellow-solitudes, hand firm in hand,
And thought with thought and hope with hope compare?
What is your answer? Mine must ever be,
‘I greatly need your friendship: leave it me.’

27. The Last Things – Gavin Ewart – c.1980
Of course there’s always a last everything.
The last meal, the last drink, the last sex.
The last meeting with a friend. The last
stroking of the last cat, the last
sight of a son or daughter. Some would be more
charged with emotion than others – if one knew.
It’s not knowing that makes it all so piquant.
A good many lasts have taken place already.
Then there are last words, variously reported,
such as: Let not poor Nelly starve. Or:
I think I could eat one of Bellamy’s veal pies.
If there were time I’d incline to a summary:
Alcohol made my life shorter but more interesting.
My father said (not last perhaps): Say goodbye to Gavin.

28. Homework: Due Thursday
Choose any 2 sonnets in this booklet (can be Kaleidoscope and the one you
specialised in) and answer the following question.
Read the two poems (Item A and Item B) carefully, bearing in mind that
they were written at different times by different writers and are open to
different interpretations.
Compare the ways that the poets present unrequited love.
In your answer you should consider the ways in which the poets use
form, structure and language to present their thoughts and ideas. You
should make relevant references to your wider reading in the poetry of
love.

29. How to Answer
• This is an exam style question – try and compare
the two poems in form/ structure/ language (I
will be paying particular attention to form and
structure in light of today’s lessons).
• I want you to spend no longer than 1 hour 30
minutes writing (even that is longer than you will
have in the exam: ideal time 50 minutes). Please
handwrite your answers to practice exam
technique. Spend the time planning your answer
at this stage, not writing it.

30. Wider Reading Tips
Try and bring in brief references to your wider reading (it can be absolutely
anything!). Potential examples from our reading...
• Victorian Literature: Tess of the D’urbervilles, John Clare’s nature sonnets,
Rossetti or Browning’s poetry (and anything else you may have read!)
• A View From The Bridge: Eddie Carbone’s passion?
• Othello and Desdemona
• Romeo and Juliet – use of sonnets at meeting/ parodied love for Rosaline
• Novel pack (from last year!): Darcy’s proposal// Mr Elton’s proposal//
Gatsby.
• Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde, parody in Miller’s Tale
• GCSE Anthology
• Courtly Lover: Wyatt ‘They Flee From Me That Sometime did they seek’,
Greensleeves
• And anything else you have ever read! Whatever books you like to read