Guessing the Sonnet Form Activity

Name:______

Guessing the Sonnet Form Activity

Sonnet #1

Directions: Read the poem below. Write the rhyme scheme out to the side to figure out which sonnet form this poem is written in. When you have written your response and noted the rhyme scheme, answer the questions on the back.

Part I: Sonnet Form and Rhyme Scheme

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 though ow’st,

Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest 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.

What type of sonnet is this? ______

Part II: Short Answer

1. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?

1. Which two lines make up the couplet? Write them below.

1. What is the author’s tone in this poem?

1. What mood is created through the poem?

1. In two-three sentences, what is the poet trying to say in the poem?

1. In line 11, why is the word “Death” capitalized? What is the poet trying to say by doing this?

Guessing the Sonnet Form Activity

Sonnet #2

Directions: Read the poem below. Write the rhyme scheme out to the side to figure out which sonnet form this poem is written in. When you have written your response and noted the rhyme scheme, answer the questions on the back.

Part I: Sonnet Form and Rhyme Scheme

“The New Colossus”

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

What type of sonnet is this? ______

Part II: Short Answer

1. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?

1. What is the theme or problem?

1. What is the answer to the problem or theme?

1. What mood is created through the poem?

1. In three sentences, what is the poet trying to say in the poem?

1. Who do you think the author is speaking to with this poem? How would you feel if you were a member of that audience? 3-5 sentences.

Guessing the Sonnet Form Activity

Sonnet #3

Directions: Read the poem below. Write the rhyme scheme out to the side to figure out which sonnet form this poem is written in. When you have written your response and noted the rhyme scheme, answer the questions on the back.

Part I: Sonnet Form and Rhyme Scheme

“What Guile is This?”

What guile is this, that those her golden tresses

She doth attire under a net of gold; And with sly skill so cunningly them dresses,
That which is gold or hair, may scarce be told?
Is it that men’s frail eyes, which gaze too bold,
She may entangle in that golden snare;
And being caught may craftily enfold
Their weaker hearts, which are not yet well aware?
Take heed therefore, mine eyes, how ye do stare
Henceforth too rashly on that guileful net,
In which if ever ye entrapped are,
Out of her bands ye by no means shall get.
Folly it were for any being free,
To covet fetters, though they golden be.

What type of sonnet is this? ______

Part II: Short Answer

1. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?

1. What is the theme or problem?

1. What is the answer to the problem?

1. What mood is created through the poem?

1. In three sentences, what is the poet trying to say in the poem?

1. Is the speaker in love or enchanted by beauty? Explain in detail with examples from the poem.