Category Archives: shakespeare

“Remembrance of Things Past” and the Problem of Order In Memory: On Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30

Sonnet 30 Shakespeare When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste: Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night, …

October 22, 2007 – 4:22 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, shakespeare | Comments (1)

Reconsidering Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73

The earlier discussion of Sonnet 73 A suggestion of Helen Vendler’s regarding Sonnet 116 has made me rethink what I said earlier about 73. In 116, Vendler argues, Shakespeare’s speaker is struggling to refute a notion of love that all too many beautiful people have today – why can’t love alter when it alteration finds? …

September 9, 2007 – 10:57 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, shakespeare | Comments (0)

"That Time of Year," Indeed: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 as an Introduction to New Criticism

Sonnet 73 Shakespeare That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which …

May 31, 2007 – 4:50 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, shakespeare | Tagged , , | Comments (6)

I like Paul Cantor, but…

Paul Cantor has often said a number of things about Shakespeare which make me think, but I feel burned out on his stuff after half-reading this article in Claremont: I feel like he’s saying the same thing over and over again, and I wish he would say something about Shakespeare other than “he’s universal,” and …

March 2, 2007 – 5:43 pm | By ashok | Posted in shakespeare | Tagged | Comments (1)

The Theologian Post-Machiavelli: Shakespeare on Love and Lust in Sonnet 129

Sonnet 129: “The expense of spirit in a waste of shame…” Shakespeare The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action; and till action, lust Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust, Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight, Past reason hunted, and no sooner …

February 20, 2007 – 8:30 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, shakespeare | Tagged , | Comments (1)

The Coming Age, Part 4

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 4. In this final part, I want to cover Malcolm’s versus Duncan’s speeches which allocate honors, discuss what the significance of the witches are, and conclude with the speech of the three beings which prophesy to Macbeth in the middle of the play. That …

January 28, 2007 – 3:53 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, politics, shakespeare | Tagged | Comments (3)

The Coming Age, part 3

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 3. I have laid the foundations for criticism of Duncan, but the imagery I mentioned earlier, imagery that leads us away from the primordial chaos of the first battles, is associated primarily with his being. He is the feudal order in full blossom, as …

January 27, 2007 – 11:17 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, politics, shakespeare | Tagged | Comments (1)

The Coming Age, part 2

The Coming Age: Macbeth and the Birth of the Modern World an online essay by Ashok Karra part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 for Jill Jeffrey, Teresa Sapp, and Nancy Ruggeri, all of whom understand Shakespeare far, far better than I do. Note: References in parentheses are to act, scene …

January 26, 2007 – 2:25 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, politics, shakespeare | Tagged | Comments (3)

The Coming Age, an essay on Macbeth – part 1

The Coming Age: Macbeth and the Birth of the Modern World an online essay by Ashok Karra, in 4 parts part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 for Jill Jeffrey, Teresa Sapp, and Nancy Ruggeri, all of whom understand Shakespeare far, far better than I do. Note: References in parentheses are …

January 26, 2007 – 1:54 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, politics, shakespeare | Tagged | Comments (8)

Some Personal Notes re: Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

Sonnet 18 William Shakespeare 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 …

January 16, 2007 – 3:48 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, shakespeare | Tagged , | Comments (3)