Sonnet+106

=TBROWN AND SBARLOON= == = = =Sonnet 106= = = //William Shakespeare//
 * When in the chronicle of wasted time**
 * I see descriptions of the fairest wights,**
 * And beauty making beautiful old rhyme**
 * In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,**
 * Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,**
 * Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,**
 * I see their antique pen would have express'd**
 * Even such a beauty as you master now.**
 * So all their praises are but prophecies**
 * Of this our time, all you prefiguring;**
 * And, for they look'd but with divining eyes,**
 * They had not skill enough your worth to sing:**
 * For we, which now behold these present days,**
 * Had eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.**

[|Wink White Thailand]
 * Sonnet 106 in modern language**
 * "When in accounts of historic times I come upon descriptions of very beautiful people and read the beautiful poems inspired by them, in praise of ladies now dead and lovely knights; when I see the poems catalog their beauty—their hands, feet, lips, eyes, foreheads—I realize that these ancient writers were trying to describe the same kind of beauty that you possess now. So all the praises of these writers are actually prophecies of our time; all of them prefigure you. If the writers hadn't been divinely inspired with this gift of prophecy, they wouldn't have had the skill to describe your worth. Those of us who live now may be able to see your beauty firsthand and be amazed by it, but we lack the poetic skill to describe it."-sparknotes**

1) What is ancient poetry "prefiguring"?
 * Reading Questions**

- The ancient poetry was prefiguring the beauty of the woman the sonnet describes. "**So all their praises are but prophecies**
 * Of this our time, all you prefiguring"**

2) Copmare the ways in which writers past and present fail.

- According to Sonnet 106, the ancient poets were divinely inspired and had the skill to describe women to their worth. Present writers lack the skill to describe beauty adequatley. They do not have the same gift of prophecy as the ancient poets. The present poets get to see the beauty, but lack the skills to describe it. Past poets didn't see the beauty fully developed but had a way with words to describe it.
 * "They had not skill enough your worth to sing:**
 * For we, which now behold these present days,**
 * Had eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise"**

3) How are their failures a testament to the ladies beauty?

- The women are so beautiful that words cannot describe them. The poets can try and try and try but the women are just too pretty to be described with words.

[|Wink White Soap] http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/106comm.htm http://nfs.sparknotes.com/sonnets/sonnet_106.epl
 * Works Cited**