The Poem That Gave 10 Things I Hate About You Its Title Is Neither of the Things It's Supposed to Be... Or Is It?
It's an iconic 1990s movie moment, not to mention a great tool for teaching two different poetic forms.
Looking for a romcom to watch this Valentine’s Day? Why not check out one of the best adaptations of Shakespeare starring fresh-faced young heartthrobs (it was kind of a thing in the 1990s). Joining Romeo + Juliet, O, and My Own Private Idaho, 10 Things I Hate About You is a loose adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. The film turns an astounding 25 years old next month. With an all-star cast and a vibe so 90s that you almost feel like they’re making the film in retrospect as an homage to the 90s, it’s required viewing for millennials, 90s film aficionados and, yes, poets.
A list poem in the form of a sonnet gives the film its title and serves as the emotional climax of the film, but both of these elements—the list poem and the sonnet—are imperfectly perfect, the way the best things in life are.
The Background
Kat (Stiles) is a free-spoken high school feminist based on Shakespeare’s Katherina Minola. What’s she like? In the play the film is based on, her character says “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.” The beautiful, intelligent, frank Kat is somehow the less attractive option compared to her sister, the saccharine-sweet Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). Long story short, Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wants to date Bianca, but since the girls’ father has decided that Bianca can’t date unless Kat does, that ain’t happening until Cameron engages the talents of one Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger but ugh, that character name!).
Cameron pays Patrick to seduce Kat. It’s rough going at first, but at some point, Patrick starts to genuinely fall for Kat. Many teenage hijinks ensue, and everyone eventually gets what they want. And though the film has some plot points, dialogue, and character designs that haven’t aged well, it wraps things up in a somewhat less misogynistic way than the original play. Huzzah.
Where’s the poetry? I got it right here:
The Assignment
Of course, before the happily ever after can be had, there has to be some conflict. Kat finds out that Patrick was initially paid to date her, and the two split up. Around this time, the students’ English teacher Mr. Morgan (Daryl Mitchell) raps part of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 141 and asks the students to write a poem inspired by it. God damn these pesky English teachers always teaching Shakespearean sonnets and asking teenagers to grow as people! Jesus!
The Sonnet
Kat, the intelligent yet annoying teacher’s pet, is ready for this assignment. Here’s the poem she reads in front of the class, which is aimed at Patrick:
I hate the way you talk to me And the way you cut your hair I hate the way you drive my car I hate it when you stare I hate your big dumb combat boots And the way you read my mind I hate you so much that it makes me sick And even makes me rhyme I hate the way you're always right I hate it when you lie I hate it when you make me laugh Even worse when you make me cry I hate it when you're not around And the fact that you didn't call But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you Not even close Not even a little bit Not even at all
At least that’s the way most fan sites lineate it. But Kat’s teacher assigned the poem as a rewrite of Shax. And something tells me that if Kat were assigned a sonnet as inspiration she’d return a sonnet to her teacher, even if it’s an unconventional and modern one.
The poem as-is clocks in at 19 lines, not 14, and doesn’t turn in quite the right place. Yes, the word “But” is a big-time turning point signifier, but (heh) I think there’s actually a subtler turn that happens sooner, and if we re-lineate the poem so that Kat’s “and” phrases are part of the lines before them, that volta is highlighted.
In other words, what if it’s this instead:
I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive my car. I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind. I hate you so much that it makes me sick and even makes me rhyme. I hate the way you're always right. I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me laugh, Even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you're not around and the fact that you didn't call. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you, Not even close, Not even a little bit, Not even at all.
Lineated this way, the poem “turns” after the octave (the first eight lines) by engaging
a different structure: the first eight lines all begin with the phrase “I hate,” but the 9th line begins with “Even worse”
a subtle shift toward emotional vulnerability—where the first eight lines are flat, saying only “I hate you,” the 9th line admits that the “you” has made the speaker cry
This arrangement of the poem is a 14-line sonnet with a volta. Ok. But what about the titular 10 Things?
The List Poem
The poem Kat reads aloud near the end of the film can also be considered a kind of list poem, which is exactly what it sounds like. List poems are expansive by design, and allow the writer to take an expansive view of a subject. It’s a kind of maximalist form, since the best list poems contain several items or even balloon up to book length, as is the case with Joe Brainard’s influential and unforgettable I Remember.
The film is titled after the poem, which is supposed to contain 10 things that Kat ostensibly hates about Patrick. But at first glance, there are 13-14 distinct things in the verse that Kat hates about Patrick, depending on whether or not you count “I hate you so much that it makes me sick and even makes me rhyme” as one or two things—I can’t decide.
And so, it’s a list poem, but it doesn’t deliver on the film title’s promise. Unless…
The only way to get 10 things cleanly is to number the phrases “I hate” and to count them as a cohesive unit (e.g., “I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair” is one “thing”). It’s neither as clean nor as satisfying as how the poem can and does engage the sonnet form.
I get that Several Things I Hate About You doesn’t have the same ring to it, but one wishes there was more precision when it comes to this feature of the poem since the whole damn movie is named after this promise.
The Aftermath
10 Things I Hate About You is in both the romcom and teen movie hall of fame, two things I just made up. But the cultural impact of the flick is undeniable. It launched the careers of its lead actors and wound up on lists of best high school movies of all time, best teen movies of all time, and best romantic comedies of all time. The poem was spoofed by actor Eric Jungmann as a deranged Ducky-type character in the 2001 parody Not Another Teen Movie, and come on… Heath Ledger’s football-bleacher performance of Frankie Valli is iconic.
Stiles recently reenacted her poem-reading scene from the film at a book festival—a welcome surprise!
What’s interesting, as some commenters have noted, is that viewers laughed during this December 2023 reading. Is it the overt emotional nature of the poem? Is it the blast of nostalgia right to the core of our little millennial hearts? Stiles exclaims “Oh my god!” in the middle of her reading, glancing to the side, which seems to be a reaction to the reaction.
What do you think? How does the poem hold up, if you were someone who first saw the film when it debuted… ahem, a quarter century ago? Why were folks laughing at J.S.? Let me know in the comments.
Happy Valentine’s Day, and may your shrews be ever untamed!
Related
The Poem That Helped Jordan Catalano Get Over Himself on My So-Called Life
It’s slightly annoying that when Jordan Catalano finally realizes that he’s in love with Angela Chase, it’s because he’s just heard a poem about a woman who is kind of commonplace and even a little gross. Who are these people I’m talking about? The protagonists of the cruelly short-lived 1990s television cult classic,
Blink & You'll Miss the Poetry Lesson Hidden in A Quiet Place
You’re reading PopPoetry, a poetry and pop culture Substack written by Caitlin Cowan. You can learn more about it here. Check out the archive to see other TV shows, movies, and films whose intersections with poetry I’ve covered. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, subscribe so you won’t miss a post!
I did see it when it came out when I was in high school! I've always thought the poem was...fine. It sounds like a poem a high schooler would write! I do agree that they should have very clearly had only 10 things, that's always bugged me a bit. Or hey, it's a sonnet, it could have been 14 Things I Hate About You 😂
It holds up well as a poem. I prefer the first line breakage. Why!? I just do. If I was in that class I would probably see it as cringe… how age changes perspective right?