“Shall I Compare . . .?”
Lesson Plan by Barbara Cobb
Shakespeare Sonnet Covered: Sonnet 18
What’s on for Today and Why:
In today’s lesson, students will explore Shakepeare’s Sonnet 18. Students will recognize the structure of
the sonnet: the praise for the subject of the poem, the contrast of the subject to other lesser things, the
clever twist at the end of the poem that calls attention to the poem as the mode of praise. (Standards
covered)
Then students will move to a poetry-writing workshop in which each will create an original poem loosely
based on the Shakespeare sonnet: each will choose two things to compare and contrast in order to
praise the favored thing and to explain why it is so special to the poem’s speaker.
This unit covers 4th Grade Reading Literature Standards 1,2,4,5,6, Foundational Skills 3,4, Writing
Standards 1,3, as well as a number of the Language standards.
This lesson may be completed in a traditional classroom setting or in a computer lab.
This lesson may be completed in a 90-minute class period, with additional time allotted for revision and
peer editing, or it may be divided into several shorter lessons.
What to Do:
Introducing the Sonnet: Present students with the first line of Sonnet 18, “Shall I compare thee to a
summer’s day?” If Shakespeare is new to your students, introduce Shakespeare’s Early Modern English
(see handout). Have students brainstorm: what does summer mean?
Terms: Image – literally, a picture; in literature, words that create a picture or other sensory experience
in our minds. What images come to mind when you think “summer”?
Terms: Symbol – something that represents something else. What does “summer” represent, when it
isn’t representing the season summer? And “winter”? “spring”? “fall” or “autumn”? (You can expand
this lesson to cover the equinoxes, the solstices, months, etc.)
Reading the sonnet: Work “quatrain” by “quatrain”
1st Quatrain (1st 4 lines): What question does the speaker ask? Why does he/she ask it? What is
his/her answer? What is the relationship of lines 3-4 to lines 1-2? What is the speaker
demonstrating here?
2nd Quatrain (lines 5-8): What does “eye of heaven” mean? Whose “complexion”? What image is
created in lines 5-6? to make what point? And what point does the speaker make in lines 7-8?
Terms: metaphor – a word or phrase used to represent something else; a metaphor
implies its meaning either because it is a part of the thing being described (“your day
will come”: “day” means “time” rather than simply “day”), or because it is associated
with the thing being described (“the White House announced” means that the President
or his staff has made a statement, rather than that the “House” talks!). (You can expand
this lesson to develop a series of metaphors for a subject of interest.)
3rd Quatrain (lines 9-12): Something different happens here. What word signals the change?
(“But”). What does the speaker mean by “eternal summer”? What are “eternal lines”? ( Lines of
a poem! This poem!)
(Scholars argue over “ow’st”: some want it to be “own’st,” meaning that the subject of
the poem “owns” his/her “fair”-ness; others like “ow’st,” since it suggests that “fair”ness is something that we don’t get to keep, that we “owe” or “pay back” at a certain
point. Which do YOU prefer?)
Couplet (lines 13-14, the last two lines of the poem): How does the couplet serve to wrap up the
poem? What is “this” in the last line? (“eternal lines,” this poem!) In what way is the speaker of
the poem correct in his/her statement that he can make his/her subject “eternal”? (We’re
reading this poem about his/her subject! Still! Today!)
Writing a Poem: Use the graphic organizer (Sonnet 18 handout – can be used in a computer lab OR in a
traditional classroom) to brainstorm and to create a poem! Encourage students to work through several
drafts, developing ideas and making the parts of their original poems fit together.
Differentiation:
Developmental: Students will concentrate on the comparison/contrast activity, making fine
distinctions between similar things.
Advanced: Students will attempt to introduce images and metaphors into their poems. Some
students may be able to incorporate rhyme or structural elements as well. Encourage students
to add these after the initial brainstorming process, as part of the revision process.
How did it go?
Do students understand the difference between the subject of Sonnet 18 and summer? Do
students understand the theme (main point) of the poem?
Was each student able to produce at least a comparison/contrast? At best a cohesive thought or
set of thoughts (a poem)?