Poems about Love
"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's
Day" p. 543
• This poem, along with the other Shakespearean
sonnet that we read for class, is part of a sequence
of sonnets that Shakespeare wrote. There are 154
of them in all. This is number eighteen.
• The point of this sonnet cycle and Elizabethan
“love poetry” in general was twofold: the poet
was to praise the “beloved,” yes, but showing
poetic skill and wit (which for the Elizabethans
meant skill with language and putting together
ideas and images in a new and startling way) was
an equally important goal.
"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's
Day” questions p. 543
• In "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day,"
why is the summer's day not adequate for
comparison?
• What is it that makes the subject of the poem
(the "beloved") immortal?
• What is the "problem" in this poem? Where is
the "turn"? (Remember our discussion of
sonnets.)
• Comment on the poet's use of nature in this
poem.
• How is this a poem about love?
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (p.
710) and “The Nymph’s Reply to the
Shepherd” p. (716)
• Both of these poems are pastoral poems. This
means that they idealize and romanticize life in
the country as pure, carefree, and idyllic
(peaceful).
• “The Nymph’s Reply” was written in direct
response to the first poem. Poets who were
familiar with each others’ work would often
respond to one another in this way.
Questions for “Passionate Shepherd”
and “The Nymph’s Reply”
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
• How does the shepherd depict the life that he is offering
his beloved?
• What does he do to try to convince her to come be with
him?
• Does this romanticized view of nature detract from the
poem as a "love poem," or add to it?
“The Nymph’s Reply”
• How does the nymph answer the shepherd's offer? Why?
• How does the speaker in this poem put "her" own twist
on the ideas in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"?
• Do you see any similarities between this poem and "Shall
I Compare Thee"?
"What Lips My Lips Have Kissed" p.
660
• We move forward in history several hundred
years here, but many of the themes, if not the
treatment of those themes, remain the same.
• What differences/similarities between this
poem and the other do you notice?
• How does her attitude toward love compare to
the others we read for today?
• Look at specific lines in them poems as you
make your comparisons.
In Class POEM
• Write a poem (it doesn’t have to rhyme or have a
meter… it can be free verse) that responds to one
of the poems we read for tonight.
• You can create a character to be the speaker (as
Raleigh created the character of the Nymph to be
his speaker), or you can reply as yourself.
• “Shall I Compare Thee…” p. 543
• “What Lips my Lips Have Kissed” p. 660
• “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” p. 710
• “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” p. 716