Renaissance Poetry Review
1. Who is the speaker in “Whoso List to Hunt” referring to when he says, “Who list her hunt?”
All young men who are looking for a woman.
2. What does the author mean in “Whoso List to Hunt” when he states the hunters “may spend his time in vain?”
He could look all over for a beautiful and faithful mate and never find one.
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” line 3 in my opinion, because he’s sad and warning all men looking
to find a proper woman.
4. According to the speaker, what effect does fire have on ice in “Sonnet 30?”
Nothing, they are both stubborn but in different ways. Her coldness hardens and his fire melts, but they don’t
burn or melt each other.
5. How does the speaker describe love in “Sonnet 30?”
As a paradox, that’s the only way their love works
6. How would you best paraphrase the lines “And ice which is congealed with senseless cold,/ Should kindle fire by
wonderful device?”
Ice is thickened and tricks fire so it doesn’t melt.
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:
He was trying to win her love but she was very stubborn and wasn’t interested.
9. In “Sonnet 75,” the woman’s first reaction is that:
Stop being so vain, I, like everyone else, will die someday.
10. In "Sonnet 75," the speaker compares the decay and anonymity of death to:
Living forever on paper, she will be famous in his poem.
11. The tone of the final lines of “Sonnet 75” is:
Strong and full of optimism, and his love for her living forever.
12. Who are the two speakers in “Sonnet 75?”
Edmund Spenser and his Love
13. The three poems stated above state what about love?
Love is painful, love is hard to find, but love is always there and can be found, but hold on to your heart
because it can be painful at times.
14. In “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” the shepherd offers the charms of:
The greatness of nature and summer, like: Beds of roses, fragrant posies, gown made of the finest wool, fair
slippers with gold buckles, and a belt of straw and ivy with coral clasps and amber studs.
15. The shepherd’s plea might have been accepted by a woman who:
Wants to live off the land, work hard during the winter, knows that summer is on the way, and loves her man.
16. State a line from “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” that gives you a clue that it is a pastoral poem.
“And we will sit upon the rocks, seeing the shepherds feed their flock by shallow rivers, to whose falls
melodious birds sing madrigals.”
17. The speaker in “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” regards the shepherd’s promised pleasures as being:
They are useless because they will all die and fall apart unlike their love, which will grow and flourish.
18. Based on “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” Sir Walter Raleigh’s view on rural living could be called:
Foolish, or unwanted, he likes the city
19. How would you paraphrase the line “Had joys no date, nor age no need?”
We don’t have to plan our happiness but let it take its course in life.
20. State two words that could be used to describe Marlowe’s and Raleigh’s different viewpoints in these poems.
Marlowe: Optimistic, easy going
Raleigh: Serious, true love
21. The speaker in “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” uses the setting of the sun to emphasize:
Time goes by fast; today the roses have bloomed, tomorrow they are dead
22. What is the speaker implying in the lines “And this same flower that smiles today,/ Tomorrow will be dying?”
You may be beautiful today but your looks will fade. You won’t always be young.
23. In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” the line “That age is best which is the first” means:
The younger you are the better.
24. What warnings does Herrick give to young women if they fail to “seize the day?”
He is telling women to get married now so that they aren’t alone after they reach their prime.
25. The speaker in “to His Coy Mistress” is a man who is:
Understanding that there isn’t much time in this world to live, so you must live fast and enjoy the time you
have.
26. In “To His Coy Mistress” the speaker says that he would wait patiently for the woman he addresses if:
He would compliment her and wait forever, if they had forever, but time doesn’t wait.
27. Give an example of an image from “To His Coy Mistress” that best emphasizes the speaker’s sense of urgency.
“But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near; and yonder all before us lie deserts of vast
eternity.”
28. Paraphrase the line “The grave’s a fine and private place, / But none, I think, do there embrace.”
When you are dead you can be alone but not with your loved one.
29. Both Herrick and Marvell urge young women to:
Marry fast and young, because time flies.
30. What is the tone of the two poems stated above?
The tone is chauvinistic (but also a warning) because women “supposedly” can only get love in their prime.
31. How would you best summarize the idea of carpe diem in the two poems?
Seize the day, because your looks will fade; this doesn’t make sense considering there would be no time for
true love.
32. The speaker in “Song” seems to think that finding a sincere woman is:
He thinks that it is near impossible to find a woman that is beautiful and true.
33. In the first stanza of “Song,” what does the speaker instruct the reader to do?
He instructs the reader to go fulfill impossible tasks (like catching a falling star).
34. Why is the speaker in “Song” wary of meeting an honest woman in the last stanza?
If he finally finds a woman he thinks will be true he is afraid she will end up cheating and become untrue.
35. What fact about Donne’s life seems to fit best with the fact that he wrote “Song?”
He was deceived by all the women he thought he loved.
36. The tone of “Song” could be described as:
bitter
37. State the line(s) that best convey the main idea of “Song.”
“All strange wonders that befell thee, and swear nowhere lives a woman true, and fair.”
38. In “Valediction” the lovers’ souls are said to resemble gold in that they:
Don’t separate but expand when you hit or melt gold
39. What does the title “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” mean?
They don’t need to mourn being apart because their souls are connected.
40. In “A Valediction” Donne compares his parting from his beloved with an image of silent melting 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:
Out of respect for the people who haven’t found true love, they won’t cry and pout about being apart.
42. What phrase does the speaker use to describe the opposite of his and his wife’s love?
“Dull sublunary lovers’ love (Whose soul is sense) cannot admit absence, because it doth remove those things
which elemented it.”
43. According to the speaker, absence from one’s beloved is easiest to bear when:
they remember that their love is connected and they will always be together through their soul.
44. An example of metaphysical conceit in this poem is:
two lovers to the needles of a compass because they have an unchanged connection
45. In “Meditation 17,” the phrase “No man is an island” means that:
If something happens to one person it affects another person.
46. In “Meditation 17,” the phrase “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” means that:
Death calls every time the bell tolls and you never know when it will be you
47. What is the main idea in “Meditation 17?”
The bell tolls whenever a person dies, and you never know when you will be next.
48. The tone of “Meditation 17” is:
Solemn, respect, and maybe a little scary…. Quite scary.
50. According to the speaker in “Death be not proud,” how will Death die?
When we die our soul continues to live and death will no longer exist to us. Death only lives for a few seconds
while we are dying.
51. Paraphrase the line “And soonest our best men with thee do go.”
Everyone dies
52. What is the theme of “Death be not proud?”
We should not fear death because it cannot harm us.
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 __Affliction__ 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 __Tribulation__ 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 _Endure__.
64. Senator Marshal proposed to __Advance__ new legislation allocating more funds to education.
65. The grief arising from death does not necessarily ___Diminish___ 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.