Eng.IV./Br. Byrd/English Renaissance Sonnet Unit
Sonnet Assignments:
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29,” p. 303: Abbasi, Barnes, Caliendo, DeRouin, Bannon
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116,” p. 304: DeMuro, Bleyer, Canoy, Donnamario, Brown, Schiltz
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” p. 305: D’Alessio, Buzinski, Daly, Jensen, Horn, Smart
Petrarch’s “Sonnet 169,” p. 309: Kagan, Kozyra, Graves, Marchetti, Tabet, Kent
Petrarch’s “Sonnet 292,” p. 310: Tedesco, Leeming, Panuncialman, Volpe, Ocasek
*Be sure to review p. 308 so you know the difference between Italian (Petrarch) and
English (Shakespeare) sonnets.
Analysis should include the following (in MLA formatting):
A: Situation (question and/or conflict)
B: Theme (central topic) and Tone (speaker's attitude about the theme)
C: Key lines or phrases that stand out and illuminate the theme or situation
D: Resolution (is there one?)
E: Rhyme scheme
F: Your evaluation (both on the strength of the theme and the style of writing)
G: Relevancy connection (can you connect this poem to anything else you've read, heard in
the news, or something from your own life?)
H: If you sought help (parents, commentary, Youtube, etc.) describe.
Eng.IV./Br. Byrd/English Renaissance Sonnet Unit
Fanny Fenwick
Br. Byrd, OP
Eng.IV.CP.
Nov. 13th, 2014
Spenser “Sonnet 30” Analysis
A: Situation—The speaker of “Sonnet 30” is lamenting the fact that the more he loves the
woman, the more she seems indifferent to him. The point of the poem is to ask how it can
be that his love for her doesn’t persuade her to love him, or why her indifference to him
doesn’t destroy his love for her.
B: Theme—The theme is definitely about the inexplicable/incomprehensible nature of love.
The speaker is utterly dumbfounded by his situation. This is clear by his metaphor: in
science, fire and ice have clear, predictable influences on each other; but he says the human
mind is not so predictable thanks to the “pow’r of love,” which “can alter all the course of
kind” (lines 13-14).
C: Key Lines—Actually, every line of this sonnet points to the theme. Line one, “My love is
like to ice, and I to fire,” establishes the conflict between the speaker’s beloved (unnamed
woman (or man)) and him. The central simile of fire vs. ice is established to make this
conflict clear. Lines two-four pose the first question about the speaker’s beloved—how she
just gets colder the more he tries to show his love. He doesn’t understand this. In lines fiveeight, the speaker asks why he himself doesn’t change (lose his love), given his beloved’s
indifference. Instead, he says he only grows more enflamed with passion. In lines ninetwelve, he concludes that, given the metaphor, love doesn’t make any sense. His use of the
word “wonderful” in line twelve points to an almost positive response to this mystery.
Eng.IV./Br. Byrd/English Renaissance Sonnet Unit
Lines thirteen-fourteen, then, give the speaker’s conclusion (what he has learned): love is
more powerful than simple, ordinary nature.
D: Resolution—Although the speaker comes to a conclusion about love, there’s no
resolution to his problem. In fact, instead of using reason to get himself out of a bad
situation, he seems to be verbally shrugging his shoulders, saying something like, “Oh, well.
There’s nothing I can do about it.” The beloved isn’t in the poem, so there’s no sense that
she’s changed her mind. The speaker wasn’t even talking to her. He could have simply been
talking aloud to himself. Maybe if he had talked to her, things could have changed?
E: Rhyme Scheme—ABABBCBCCDCDEE. Which is typical of a Spenserian sonnet.
F: I loved this poem. The situation and conflict were clear. The voice of the speaker was
intelligent and interesting. Part of me sympathized with his situation, but then part of me
wanted to tell him to move on and find somebody else. I enjoyed the way reason was
misused by him to talk himself into accepting his situation. Reason is usually used more to
fix problems, but this is a good case of where it’s used to rationalize a problem. Although
there is rhyme and iambic pentameter, I didn’t think the language was artificial.
G: Relevancy Connection—This poem reminds me of Sir Thomas Wyatt’s “My Lute, Awake,”
since in that poem the speaker was also lamenting the fact that his love was not returned;
however, the tone of Spenser’s poem is far more charming and positive than the bitter tone
of Wyatt’s. I think the beloved described in Spenser’s sonnet could be compared to the
speaker of Sir Walter Raleigh’s “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” since in Raleigh’s
poem the Nymph seems pessimistic toward her suitor’s romantic overtures. Beyond this, I
could name several times in my life in which I found myself in love with someone who was
not in love with me…