Name: ____________________
Shakespeare Unit--Sonnet worksheet
Sonnet_____________________________________________________.
Sonnet is Italian for _____________________.
There are ______ lines in a sonnet.
The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet is:
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SONNET 127
In the old age black was not counted fair,
Or if it were it bore not beauty’s name;
But now is black beauty’s successive heir,
And beauty slandered with a bastard shame,
For since each hand hath put on nature’s power,
Fairing the foul with art’s false borrowed face,
Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower,
But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace.
Therefore my mistress’ eyes are raven black,
Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem
At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack,
Slandering creation with a false esteem:
Yet so they mourn, becoming of their woe,
That every tongue says beauty should look so.
What kind of poem do you think this is upon your first reading—a love
poem? A story poem? A sad one? A happy one?
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1) What gives you this initial impression?
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Copy your row’s assigned Shakespearean sonnet lines here:
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Now discuss it together. What do you think it means? Write a translation on
the lines below:
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Watch the clip (from 4:18 to 8:20) of Akala’s TED talk
discussion. List TWO lessons you learn about the connection
between Shakespeare and modern music:
1) ________________________________________________________
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2) _______________________________________________________
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