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 dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d;
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
In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare compares the beauty of a lover to a summer day, saying that she is even more beautiful. A summer day can have an unpleasant moment; however, her beauty is perfect. He explains that although everything has an end and is mortal (like a summer’s day), her beauty will become immortal due to this poem. Even centuries after her death, readers can still imagine her beauty by reading this poem.
In this sonnet, a man writes about the beauty of a woman. Her beauty is described as something very delicate and, to some extent, fragile which makes it necessary for him to preserve it in this sonnet. Nowadays, media commonly portrays women’s beauty as fragile and delicate, or in more strikingly explicit ways. There are various advertisements and programs portraying both sides. Especially in product advertisements, the female form is portrayed in a way that can range from delicate to explicit. Media often uses the allure of feminine beauty to achieve higher sales.
In the last few decades, various movements have been created with the goal to give women agency over their own body and control over how it is portrayed. These movements aim to break societal stereotypes and beauty ideals. Women want to show themselves in a manner in which they feel comfortable. However, by doing so, they create a body ideal themselves. This is why representation is important. It is dangerous to only have one type of woman be prominent in media as this creates body and beauty ideals that are quite limited. Instead, various types of women should have a voice and format. The beauty ideal for women in the western world is constantly changing. Figureheads of typical beauty over recent years have ranged from Marilyn Monroe to Barbie and then to Kim Kardashian. What is considered to be beautiful is constructed and thus, is susceptible to change. Nowadays, people emphasise the need to love oneself and one’s body, regardless of imperfections and body shape. The emergence of plus-sized models and Barbie dolls in different body shapes and skin colours reinforces this positive message.
As beauty is subjective, the idea of one “ideal beauty and body shape” is being deconstructed. Similarly, the ideal “handsome” masculine man is also changing. Nowadays, men are also able to express themselves more freely regarding their emotions and appearance. In Hollywood, androgynous looking men such as Timotheee Chalamet or Harry Stiles are well known for their gendernonconformism.
In einem Prüfungsteil könnte ein Sonett behandelt werden. Folglich ist es hilfreich, etwas über den Aufbau eines Sonetts zu wissen. Das Sonett ist eine Gedichtform, die ihren Ursprung im Italien des 13. Jahrhunderts hat. Während der Renaissance war die das Sonett die präferierte Gedichtform, um romantische Liebe auszudrücken. Ein Sonnet besteht aus 14 Zeilen (14 lines) und hat typischerweise 10 Silben pro Zeile. Das deutsche Sonnett, das ihr bestimmt aus eurem Deutschunterricht kennt, ist etwas anders aufgebaut als die Englischen. Das Reimschema des deutschen Sonnetts is abba bccb cdd cdd.
Im Englischen unterscheidet man zwischen dem Shakespeare-Sonett/Elisabethanischen Sonnett (Shakeaperean Sonnet or English Sonnet) und dem Petrarca-Sonnet oder Italienischen Sonnet (Petrarchan sonnet or Italian Sonnet). Ein Shakespeare-Sonnett besteht aus 3 Quartetten (quartet), d.h. 3 Strophen, die aus jeweils 4 Zeilen bestehen, und aus einer 2-zeiligen Strophe (couplet, in this case a so-called heroic couplet). Das Reimschema des Shakespeare-Sonnets ist abab cdcd efef gg. Das Versmaß/Metrum des Shakespeare-Sonnet ist ein zehnsilbiger Jambus (the metre is in iambic pentameter). Oft stellt die erste Strophe eine These auf, wobei die zweite eine ergänzende oder sogar widersprüchliche These aufführt. Die letzten zwei Strophen sollen dann die Thematik zu einem Ergebnis führen und das Sonett abschließen.
Ein Petrarca-Sonnet besteht aus einer 8-zeiligen Strophe (octave) und einem 6-Zeiler (sestet). Das Reimschema des Petrarca-Sonnets ist abbaabba und entweder cdcdcd oder cdecde. Sowohl das Shakespeare-Sonnett als auch das Petrarca-Sonnet sind typischerweise ein zehnsilbiger Jambus (both the Shakespearean sonnet and Petrarcan sonnet are typically written in iambic pentameter)
Außerdem gibt es noch das sogenannte Spenserian Sonnett (Spenserian Sonnet), welches so wie auch das Shakespeare-Sonnet aus 3 Quartetten und einem 2-Zeiler besteht, jedoch zusätzlich sogenannte „couplet links“ verwendet (abab bcbc cdcd ee). Für das Abitur ist höchstwahrscheinlich vor allem das Shakespeare-Sonnett relevant.