Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 2 AIL 0126 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Sonnet 44 Opens in the Subjunctive
Captions available
The idea
The first line is "If the dull substance of my flesh were thought". His flesh is not thought, and were marks that the supposition is contrary to fact. Everything the poem then imagines depends on a condition the speaker knows is false.
In practice
Were marks the false supposition.
Where people slip
The whole poem hangs on this.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
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