Sonnets
Checking for Understanding and
Studying Figurative Language
Good Morning!
1. Take out your narrative poem. Put your
name on your work 
2. Take out your sonnet packet.
Analysis of Sonnet 29
I will inevitably lose fame, fortune, and false
friends. I will inevitably be surpassed by
another artist, who is more gifted and more
beautiful (in craft) than I am. When this is
starting to happen, I feel bad for myself. I find
comfort in you [subject] and my worth is
validated.
Analysis of Sonnet 116
Love should be celebrated with marriage. Love
does not falter when the road gets rocky.
Love is a star that guides those bonded by it.
Love does not end. Love is unconditional. If I
[Shakespeare] am proven wrong, then my
career and what I stand for is a lie, so I will
take back everything I’ve written.
Analysis of Sonnet 73
• In me you see an aging man. As I approach
my death, you will love me ever more because
you will know that you are on the brink of
losing me. Your grief will amplify your love.
Analysis of Sonnet 55
No amount of fortune, war, or royalty could
outlive the legacy of poetry. Since I’ve written
about you [his love] in my poetry, you are
immortal. Your legacy will also be more
permanent than anything else.
(Mars is the Roman god of war)
Analysis of Sonnet 18
Should I compare you to summer? I shouldn’t
because while summer is fleeting, you will
always be beautiful and youthful. Nature
causes people to age and lose their looks, but
my poetry will live on forever and since you
are part of it, your beauty and youth will also
be immortal.
Analysis of Sonnet 130
My mistress [archaic meaning = sweetheart].
My sweetheart’s eyes are not like the sun. Her
lips are not as red as coral. Her skin is more
grey than white. Her hair is wiry. She does
not have blush-filled cheeks. My sweetheart’s
breath is far from perfume. Her voice is not
sweet. And yet I love her more than anything.
Analysis of Sonnet 27
• I’ve [Shakespeare] traveled far and I’m so
happy to stop and to go to sleep. Alas, my
journey is not done! In my dreams I begin a
new journey to you, the path and the events
illuminated by my soul. There I see you
[shadow = not true, but dreams projection];
you make night beautiful. Between my
thoughts of you by day and my dreams of you
at night, I find no peace from missing you.
Analysis of Sonnet 24
My eye is the painter; I’ve painted you in my heart.
My eyes are the windows to my soul—look into
them and you can see that I love you. Your eyes
mirror my eyes, allowing me to recognize my own
love for you. My eyes lack a valuable skill: I can
see my love, you can see my love, but I cannot
see your love.
(Here we see that love unifies Shakespeare and the
subject, but we see perhaps the beginnings of a
downfall)
Alliterative sentence that describes the
painting “La Mariee” by Chagall
A metaphor that describes all or part
of “Old Guitarist” by Pablo Picasso
Simile inspired by this painting,
“Mirage” by Salvador Dali
Personification inspired by “Tree of
Life” by Gustav Klimt
Onomatopoeia inspired by “Starry
Night” by Vincent Van Gogh
A sonnet is
•
•
•
•
•
•
a lyric poem
consisting of fourteen lines
written in iambic pentameter
with a definite rhyme scheme
and a definite thought structure
deals with emotions and feeling
Iambic pentameter consists of
• five measures, units, or meters, of
• iambs
An iamb is a metrical foot
consisting of
an unstressed syllable U
followed by an stressed syllable /.
Shakespearian sonnets:
unstressed/stressed
U /
a gain
U
/ U /
im mor tal ize
Iambic Pentameter
1
•
•
•
•
2
3
4
5
U / U / U / U / U
/
One day I wrote her name u pon the strand,
U / U
/ U / U/U /
But came the waves and wash ed it a way:
U / U / U / U / U /
A gain I wrote it with a sec ond hand,
U / U / U / U / U /
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey
» Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 75
Rhyme Scheme
• Shakespearean (English, or Elizabethan) rhyme
scheme:
abab, cdcd, efef, gg
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
A
B
A
B
C
d
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G
Thought Structure
• Octave/ sestet
The octave, eight lines, presents a situation or
idea. After the eighth line there is a turn in the
poem.
The sestet (sextet), six lines, responds, to the
situation or idea in the octave.
• Quatrain, quatrain, quatrain, couplet
Each quatrain, four lines, describes and idea or
situation which leads to a conclusion or response in
the couplet, two lines.
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
The octave
describes the
ways in which
the summer’s
day is inferior to
the beloved.
The sestet
describes the
ways in which the
beloved is
superior to the
summer’s day.
Sonnet 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
The diction of
the octave
implies the
speaker’s selfpity and
depression.
The sestet’s
diction, in
conrast, is
joyful.
Sonnet 73
1st Quatrain
Year - Fall
2nd Quatrain Day Twilight
3rd Quatrain
Fire - Coals
“This” is ll.1-12
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
Directions for Sonnet or Ode
• Inspiration: Selected Shakespeare poems
• Include your “found” sonnet (number and determine the
rhyme scheme). Also include your well-written paragraph
that summarizes the meaning of the poem. Finally, include a
well-written paragraph that explores the connections
between the themes, ideas, or symbols in the sonnet and a
piece of artwork.
• Write your own sonnet or ode. The piece must be fourteen
lines, have a specific rhyme scheme (ababcdcdefefgg),
consistent syllable use (rhythm), and adhere to a specific
structure: octave/sestet or three quatrains and a couplet.
• Create a piece of art that represents your poem.
Sonnet 
As I observe the contents of my life, (a)
I see that to many I’m not a prize. (b)
Proud and high strung, I’ll not be the best wife, (a)
but for you I will always, always try. (b)
I may not prepare the food you covet, (c)
since I may not know how nor care to learn. (d)
I don’t like Taco Bell, but you lovit, (c)
when I cook chicken, ala not burned. (d)
I’m not so good at grand gestures, you know. (e)
I get shy at cheezy proclamations. (f)
Yet, when I look at you, face all aglow, (e)
I see a glint of approximation. (f)
Even so, when mirrored by your eyes, I see (g)
That you will always love me, just for me. (g)
Ode to Chocolate
Chocolate is my dearest friend (a)
Alone or in a candy bar, (b)
Eaten again and again, (a)
Lo, sometimes I go too far… (b)
In the morning with my jo, (c)
After my little lunch break, (d)
A snacky-snack of yummo, (c)
After dinner and when I wake. (d)
The best is so tough to place, (e)
Take-Fives and Snickers are tied, (f)
But then Reeses wins the race, (e)
Tasting mighty dignified. (f)
Little morsel, here we go, (g)
I’m eating you nice and slow! (g)