Poetry

Select TWO poems from the pages listed above and comment on your reading experience, guided by these points:

SONNET 29 – William Shakespeare pg. 435

Who is the speaker? or characterize the speaker as much as you can in terms of his/ her class, race, gender, location.

I am unsure if Shakespeare himself is the speaker in this sonnet, but whoever the speaker is, he/she is in a “state” of torment over something. Whether it has to do with emotions, social status, or good fortune is uncertain.

Is there rhyme/meter? go back to p 414 - 415 and follow the models.

Sonnet 29 is written in iambic pentameter with four quatrains and ends with a two line couplet, which is pretty much standard for most of Shakespeare’s sonnets. The rhyme scheme goes abab cdcd ebeb ff. (Could be wrong it may be abab cdcd efef gg)

Single out three figures of speech: what are they and how are they used?

1. Line 2, 10, 14 – “state” referring to the speakers mental/emotional state of mind or social status

2. Line 5 – “rich in hope” referring to a hopeful person

3. Line 9 – “myself almost despising” the speaker thinks very shallow of himself/herself

Who might the original audience have been?

The original audience is most likely the speaker’s lover. “Haply I think on thee – and then my state, Like to the lark at the break of day arising from sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate”

What is your final impression of the poem?

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME – Robert Herrick pg. 446

Who is the speaker? or characterize the speaker as much as you can in terms of his/ her class, race, gender,