Summary

Is beauty only an ideal, or can someone truthfully be beautiful?
In this seminar, students will discuss two sonnets by Shakespeare to examine the ways in which love is immortalized in poetry. Two opposing views are contrasted in the reading: one with a subject whose beauty is everlasting, one with a more honest appraisal of the subject's appearance. With only the words still surviving today, we must ask: Can art be both honest and untrue? Who decides what beauty looks like? And in an age of comparison and illusion, how do we learn to see—and love—what is real?

Event Overview

A St. John's Seminar is an hour and a half long virtual event that is led by two current faculty members. It's a great opportunity to get a feel for what a real class at St. John's is like! With cameras and mics on, the seminar will begin when a faculty member asks an opening question. Then, everyone will join in the conversation as equals on the journey to answer that (usually deceptively simple) question. Participating in this seminar fulfills one of the requirements for our Discussion-Based Application.
 

This session will focus on William Shakespeare's Sonnets 18 and 130, LINKED HERE.