Renaissance Poetry Review
1. Who is the speaker in “Whoso List to Hunt” referring to when he says, “Who list her hunt?”
His love, Anne Boleyn
2. What does the author mean in “Whoso List to Hunt” when he states the hunters “may spend his time in vain?”
He may not find his love
3. Find the line in the poem that most clearly helps you to infer the speaker’s mood in “Whoso List to Hunt.”
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore
4. According to the speaker, what effect does fire have on ice in “Sonnet 30?”
It makes it colder
5. How does the speaker describe love in “Sonnet 30?”
He describes his love like fire and the person he loves like ice
6. How would you best paraphrase the lines “And ice which is congealed with senseless cold,/ Should kindle fire by
wonderful device?”
Should ice which is cold, sit y the fire a wonderful thing?
7. Who is the speaker in “Sonnet 30?”
Edmund Spenser
8. The contrasting images of fire and ice help us infer that the relationship between the man and woman in “Sonnet 30”
was:
Opposite with the man loving and the woman not loving
9. In “Sonnet 75,” the woman’s first reaction is that:
He will keep getting washed away
10. In "Sonnet 75," the speaker compares the decay and anonymity of death to:
The waves washing names away
11. The tone of the final lines of “Sonnet 75” is:
Depressing, sad
12. Who are the two speakers in “Sonnet 75?”
A man and his lover
13. The three poems stated above state what about love?
It is very powerful
14. In “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” the shepherd offers the charms of:
15. The shepherd’s plea might have been accepted by a woman who:
Shared his optimistic and unrealistic view on love and the world
16. State a line from “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” that gives you a clue that it is a pastoral poem.
And I will make thee beds of roses
17. The speaker in “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” regards the shepherd’s promised pleasures as being:
Unrealistic
18. Based on “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” Sir Walter Raleigh’s view on rural living could be called:
A hard life
19. How would you paraphrase the line “Had joys no date, nor age no need?”
If there was no limit on time or life then we can be together
20. State two words that could be used to describe Marlowe’s and Raleigh’s different viewpoints in these poems.
Optimistic, pessimistic
21. The speaker in “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” uses the setting of the sun to emphasize:
The ending of their lives
22. What is the speaker implying in the lines “And this same flower that smiles today,/ Tomorrow will be dying?”
Seize the day
23. In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” the line “That age is best which is the first” means:
Seize the day because tomorrow you could die
24. What warnings does Herrick give to young women if they fail to “seize the day?”
They will miss their chance at happiness
25. The speaker in “to His Coy Mistress” is a man who is:
Talking to his love
26. In “To His Coy Mistress” the speaker says that he would wait patiently for the woman he addresses if:
Time lasted forever and they were immortal
27. Give an example of an image from “To His Coy Mistress” that best emphasizes the speaker’s sense of urgency.
Times winged chariot hurrying near
28. Paraphrase the line “The grave’s a fine and private place, / But none, I think, do there embrace.”
It’s restful where you’re dead but no one wants to die
29. Both Herrick and Marvell urge young women to:
Quickly marry them
30. What is the tone of the two poems stated above?
Loving, graceful, mean, depressing
31. How would you best summarize the idea of carpe diem in the two poems?
Seize the day; be happy today because tomorrow might be worse
32. The speaker in “Song” seems to think that finding a sincere woman is:
It’s hard to find a women that is both faithful and beautiful
33. In the first stanza of “Song,” what does the speaker instruct the reader to do?
Try to find the perfect women
34. Why is the speaker in “Song” wary of meeting an honest woman in the last stanza?
Because he can’t trust her and you can’t have beauty and be faithful
35. What fact about Donne’s life seems to fit best with the fact that he wrote “Song?”
He got married and went to jail because she was a minor
36. The tone of “Song” could be described as:
Bitter and Cynical
37. State the line(s) that best convey the main idea of “Song.”
Go, catch a falling star - impossible
38. In “Valediction” the lovers’ souls are said to resemble gold in that they:
Their separation, Even though it’s painful it spreads love
39. What does the title “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” mean?
Don’t mourn about the bad things, you’ll always have love
40. In “A Valediction” Donne compares his parting from his beloved with an image of silent _____________ rather than
loud crying.
41. In lines 7-8 in “A Valediction”, the words “’Twere profanation of our joys/ To tell the laity our love,” mean:
There was lack of reverence or respect of their joys, Tell the person who can’t understand love of their love
42. What phrase does the speaker use to describe the opposite of his and his wife’s love?
Twere profanation of our joys / To tell the laity our love
43. According to the speaker, absence from one’s beloved is easiest to bear when:
44. An example of metaphysical conceit in this poem is:
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move
45. In “Meditation 17,” the phrase “No man is an island” means that:
Everyman is a piece of the continent, part of the main
46. In “Meditation 17,” the phrase “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” means that:
Ringing of church bells to announce the death of a church member
47. What is the main idea in “Meditation 17?”
A serious illness came and members of their church are dying
48. The tone of “Meditation 17” is:
Depressing, mourning
49. What is an example of onomatopoeia from “Meditation 17?”
Tool – constant reminder that the bell is going to ring
50. According to the speaker in “Death be not proud,” how will Death die?
After everyone is dead, Death will die
51. Paraphrase the line “And soonest our best men with thee do go.”
Our best men will eventually die
52. What is the theme of “Death be not proud?”
Don’t be afraid of Death
Melodious
Advance
Embroidered
Fragrant
Folly
Virtuous
Reckon
Endure
Diminish
Tribulation
Contemplation
Dreadful
Desperate
Affliction
Pilgrimage
53. Before installing new carpet, you must ____Reckon_________ how much you will need.
54. Gabriel’s ____folly______ earned him detention.
55. My grandma ______Embroidered________ a pillow with a garden scene.
56. Donne believes _______Tribulation________ brings humans closer to God.
57. The religious ______Pilgrimage________ was long and arduous, but the participants’ faith helped them endure the
hardships.
58. The opposite of wicked is ________Virtuous______.
59. Ringing church bells triggers Donne’s _________contemplation________ of his own mortality.
60. The speaker’s ______Melodious________ voice was a pleasure to hear.
61. Donne believes that trials and ___________affliction_________ can benefit a person.
62. The ________fragrant___________ roses filled the room with their scent.
63. As the game went into triple overtime, fans found the suspense hard to _________Diminish__________.
64. Senator Marshal proposed to _______Endure________ new legislation allocating more funds to education.
65. The grief arising from death does not necessarily ______Advance_________ over time for Donne.
66. Donne does not believe that death is ________dreadful__________ because he believes in life after death.
67. She was ______desperate________ for a date to King of Hearts, so she took her ex.