Shakespeare Sonnets Worksheet
Name____________________
Read sonnets 29, 73, 116, and 130 by William Shakespeare and answer the questions. Answer
in complete sentences.
Sonnet 29
1. What two moods are contrasted?
2. What kinds of men does the speaker say he envies?
3. What does the lark symbolize?
4. Where is the tune in this poem? What does he say?
5. How does the speaker’s state of mind change from the beginning of this sonnet to
the end?
6. Why does the speaker’s outlook change?
7. In this sonnet, Shakespeare connects the two disparate moods with an image of an
address to Heaven. How are the two images different?
Sonnet 73
8. What is the speaker’s mood?
9. Identify the images of death.
10. The images in sonnet 73 are considered particularly effective. What are the images
and how do they relate to the mood and theme of the poem?
Sonnet 116
11. What are impediments?
12. Provide 2 examples of alliteration from the poem.
13. What is the narrator referring to with “the wand’ring bark”?
14. How does the narrator feel about love?
Sonnet 130
15. In most love poems, the speaker praises the beauty or spirit of the beloved. How
does “Sonnet 130” compare to most love poems?
16. What is the speaker’s attitude toward his mistress?
17. In this poem, Shakespeare seems to be making fun of the comparisons that other
poets use. Name some examples of what Shakespeare considers to be a “false
compare” (Remember, other sonnets are love poems, they glorify the woman).