Sonnets Group

Question:

tuphanpatra
tuphanpatra
Student
College - Senior

What does Shakespeare mean by the phrase "pupil pen" in Sonnet No.16? One meaning I know of is "immature poetry"; are there any extra implications?

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Posted by tuphanpatra on Wednesday November 4, 2009 at 9:46 PM and tagged with literature, pupil pen, shakespeare's sonnets, sonnet 16, theme, william shakespeare.

Answers:

  1. kplhardison
    kplhardison Student
    Graduate School

    eNotes Editor

    The phrase "pupil pen" in Shakespeare's Sonnet 16 could be rephrased as "untutored pen." This gives the implication of a poet who is unlearned in the art of poesy and equally unskilled in its execution.

    While it is certain that Shakespeare was neither unlearned nor unskilled, this was a traditional convention among poets, which displayed modesty. Edmund Spenser employed the same convention from time to time. And, indeed, one prevalent theory (mimetic) of poetry during the Renaissance, espoused in particular by Phillip Sydney, held that poetry is a divine inspiration that mimics divine values and beauty for human benefit. In this sense, Shakespeare (and Spenser) would be correct in referring to his gifts as "pupil pen," in other words, an untutored poet producing untutored, unskilled poetry.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/art-shakespeares-sonnets-salem/art-...
    http://www.enotes.com/sonnet-116-salem/sonnet-116
    http://www.enotes.com/sonnets/

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    Posted by kplhardison on Thursday November 5, 2009 at 11:49 AM