Ms. Crandell
English 9
Guided Notes: Sonnets
Name__________________
Period ________
Romeo and Juliet: Sonnets
1. How many sonnets did Shakespeare write? __________
2. A sonnet is a kind of __________________________
3. A sonnet has how many lines? ____________
4. What is the rhyme scheme of a sonnet?
5. What is a quatrain?
6. What is the meter of a Shakespearean sonnet?
7. A sonnet is a kind of intellectual ___________________________
8. What is a couplet?
9. What is a pilgrimage?
10. What does profane mean in this sonnet?
11. What is a palmer?
Sonnet Form in Dialogue
Name____________________
Shakespeare included a sonnet in the first lines Romeo and Juliet speak to each other! This is a
contest of wit between Romeo and Juliet in their first meeting.
Read the lines below, and then follow the directions for analysis.
1.5.104-117
(Romeo:)
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
(Juliet:)
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
(Romeo:)
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
(Juliet:)
Aye, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
(Romeo:)
O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do.
They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
(Juliet:)
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.
(Romeo:)
Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take.
Directions for Analysis:
1. Mark the rhyme scheme with letters at the end of each line.
2. Underline all the words that relate to the metaphor of the pilgrim approaching the shrine.
3. Who is the pilgrim here?
4. Who is the holy saint?
5. Does Juliet want to be kissed? Why or why not?