I.
Renaissance Poetry
Historical
1. The renaissance was a return to what?
2. Where and when did the renaissance start? When did it reach
England?
3. What is humanism and who made it famous?
4. Who invented the movable type printing press and when was it
invented?
5. What King is responsible for England’s split with the Catholic Church?
What was the dispute about?
Sir Thomas Wyatt
1. Who was the lover that Wyatt wrote about in “Whoso List to Hunt”
and “My Galley”?
2. Wyatt speaks of hunting deer in “Whoso List to Hunt.” Is he speaking
literally, if not what is this literary device called and what is he
actually speaking of?
3. Wyatt was the first person to write a sonnet in English. Who was the
originator of the sonnet and where was he from?
Edmund Spenser
1. Spenser worked as a courtier in what country?
2. Spenser wrote a book of poetry. What was the name of that book of
poetry?
3. Sonnet 30 presents a paradox. What is the paradox that is presented?
4. In sonnet 75 the speaker has a thought that he thinks will make his
love immortal. What is this thought?
William Shakespeare
1. Why are Shakespeare’s sonnets untitled?
2. The speaker in sonnet 29 wants to be someone else? What specific
qualities of other people does he want?
3. What remembrance would he not trade for the state of a king?
4. What are the attitudes in sonnet 116?
5. What is the speaker’s attitude toward his love in sonnet 130?
Carpe Diem Poets
1. What does Carpe Diem Mean?
2. What is Andrew Marvell’s argument? If, but, then…
3. In the first and second stanzas of “To His Coy Mistress” what tone
does Marvell use? Why does he use this tone?
3. Robert Herrick compares youth to what in, “To the Virgin’s to Make
Much of Time?”
4. What does the passionate shepherd promise in “The Passionate
Shepherd to his Love,” and what is the woman’s reply in “The Nymph’s
Reply to the Shepherd?”
John Donne
1. What is the central idea on the poem “Song?”
3. What is the central idea of “Meditation 17?”
The Cavalier Poets
1. What is the speakers attitude in “Why so Pale and
Wan, Fond Lover?”
2. In “To Lucasta” how would you characterize the speaker
of the poem?
3. What is the speakers attitude toward prison in “To
Althea?”
Miscellaneous
1. What is the difference between a Petrarchan sonnet and a
Shakespearean sonnet?