Current Slow Reading Study: the Sonnets

Wednesdays 1 pm Eastern/12 pm Central (Sonnets) 

Most of us have encountered one or two of Shakespeare’s more famous Sonnets in school or in life – but how many of us have been afforded the opportunity to study with others all or most of the Sonnets, in connection with each other?

This reading pathway is guided by the desire to encounter the body of Sonnets whole. It is also guided by the conviction, confirmed by much deep reading of the works themselves, that the Sonnets actually have something to say to us about love, friendship, self-deception, and aspiration. Many of the sonnets themselves are even far bawdier than one might expect.

At first working through the 1609 collection, the group is now underway with “All the Sonnets of Shakespeare”, a lovely recent volume by Edmonson and Wells, who dare to rearrange the 1609 collection according to an estimated chronology of the Sonnets. Included in this volume are sonnets from plays, from other works such as Pilgrim’s Progress, as well as earlier versions of selected sonnets. There’s still plenty of territory to cover, so even if you were not able to start at the beginning, each sonnet affords a rich opportunity to get inside the music and the matter of thinking of one of the world’s greatest poets.

Note: This slow reading pathway is a continuation of the previous quarter. New participants are welcome!

Seminar Leaders: Jeff Johnston