Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Shakespeare goes reggae!
Suppose Shakespeare's famous sonnet was a reggae song? What might it sound like? Click play and find out! Then ask how it makes you feel. There's no right or wrong ...here; whatever reaction you have is right for you. Try it and see. Tell me about it in the comments!
🎵AI-generated reggae, created using Suno, prompted and edited by Ano Sensei
@adust1062 Thank you again! I’m glad it resonates. I’ll be making more videos along these lines in due course. Watch this space!
If you’re interested in the metre, it’s worth noting that quite a lot of the lines of the sonnet actually come out more like tetrameters in this reggae version, rather than pentameters: SHALL I comPARE thee || TO a SUMMer’s day?” I tackle the question of whether we can read other passages from Shakespeare as tetrameters in another video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjBYNrjkQYk
@anosensei I do really appreciate your kind analysis on Shakespeare lines. Every time I watch or listen to the play of Hamlet, the famous actors monologue “To be or not to be …”, to my ears it sounded not exact pentameters – to which I took it for my JEnglish. Your video and your recitation on tetrameters gave me a sort of confidence. Thank you so much for enlightening me the world of English poetry.
@adust1062 Your intuition was right! English is not Italian, and the iambic di-DUM-di-DUM-di-DUM-di-DUM-di-DUM stress pattern doesn’t map perfectly onto English. There’s a lot of disagreement about the “right” way to read Shakespeare, even among native speakers, What really matters is to read the lines in a way that makes sense to *you*.
6 Comments
Thanks for sharing this, Sonnet 18!
You’re welcome! I had great fun making it. Do please check the heavy metal Shelley! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ujs7tAERX0
@anosensei So cool the heavy metal Shelley is, I love it. The reggae sonnet 18 tells us what the iambic metre meant to be. Thanks!
@adust1062 Thank you again! I’m glad it resonates. I’ll be making more videos along these lines in due course. Watch this space!
If you’re interested in the metre, it’s worth noting that quite a lot of the lines of the sonnet actually come out more like tetrameters in this reggae version, rather than pentameters: SHALL I comPARE thee || TO a SUMMer’s day?” I tackle the question of whether we can read other passages from Shakespeare as tetrameters in another video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjBYNrjkQYk
@anosensei I do really appreciate your kind analysis on Shakespeare lines. Every time I watch or listen to the play of Hamlet, the famous actors monologue “To be or not to be …”, to my ears it sounded not exact pentameters – to which I took it for my JEnglish. Your video and your recitation on tetrameters gave me a sort of confidence. Thank you so much for enlightening me the world of English poetry.
@adust1062 Your intuition was right! English is not Italian, and the iambic di-DUM-di-DUM-di-DUM-di-DUM-di-DUM stress pattern doesn’t map perfectly onto English. There’s a lot of disagreement about the “right” way to read Shakespeare, even among native speakers, What really matters is to read the lines in a way that makes sense to *you*.