Reader V6 Sonnets 2024-2025 PDF

VWO 6 – LITERATURE 1 2024-2025 Name: …………………………………………………………………………  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Introduction Your first literature school exam (SE1) centres on the history, the development, the form an...

VWO 6 – LITERATURE 1 2024-2025 Name: …………………………………………………………………………  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Introduction Your first literature school exam (SE1) centres on the history, the development, the form and the contents of sonnets. We will study the aforementioned in class, but you will also need to do some additional research of your own. You will be working on two sets of assignments: the study questions (SQs) and Webquest. The study questions will be set as mandatory homework ahead of each literature lesson. In addition to that, you need to research background information as self-study, in pairs, by means of the Webquest. Contents 1. What and how to study for SE1? p. 1 2. The history and development of the sonnet p. 2 3. Sonnets by: p. 9 Shakespeare, Spenser, Donne, Shelley, Barrett Browning, Lazarus, Millay and Owen 4. Study questions p. 14 5. Poetic devices and literary elements p. 18 6. Webquest p. 22 1. What and how to study for SE1? For the school exam on Literature reader 1 (10%) you will have to: 1. Study this reader carefully. 2. Complete all of the study questions and study your answers. 3. Do the assignments in the Webquest (see Magister.me) and study them as well.  The Webquest has a maximum bonus of 4 score points on top of your exam score points, only earned if you hand in (i.e. upload) your answers on Magister.me before the deadline: Tuesday 1 October, 2024. By the way, you do not need to memorize the sonnets themselves for the exam: when asked about details, the sonnets will be provided. You DO, of course, have to be able to analyse the sonnets. -1-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 2. The history and development of the sonnet The term "sonnet" derives from the Provençal word "sonet" and the Italian word "sonetto," both meaning "little song." By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and logical structure. The conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history. There are two main sonnet forms: the original Italian (or Petrarchan) type and the English variety. The sonnet as a form developed in Italy probably in the thirteenth century. In the fourteenth century Petrarch raised the sonnet to its greatest Italian perfection and so gave it, for English readers, his own name. He died in 1374. Sonnets were written by Dante (1265-1321) and Tasso in Italy, by Camoens in Portugal, by Du Bellay and Ronsard in France, before the verse-form found its way to England. The form was introduced to England by Thomas Wyatt, who translated Petrarchan sonnets and left over thirty examples of his own in English. Gradually the Italian sonnet pattern was changed, and since Shakespeare attained fame for the greatest poems of this modified type, his name has often been given to the English form. Some of the most famous sonneteers in Great Britain are Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, and D.G. Rossetti. Longfellow, Jones Very, G.H. Boker, and E.A. Robinson are generally credited with writing some of the best sonnets in America. Traditionally, when writing sonnets in the English language, the iambic pentameter is usually employed. In the Romance languages, the Alexandrine and the hendecasyllable are the most widely used metres. You will find out more about the differences between these metres when working on the Webquest. -2-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 2.1 The Italian sonnet (Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch, one of the best-known early Italian sonnet writers.) The Italian sonnet is distinguished by its bipartite division into the octave and the sestet. The octave (resp. two quatrains) consisted of eight lines rhyming a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a, which stated a proposition or a problem. The sestet (resp. two tercets) consisted of six lines rhyming c-d-e-c-d-e or c-d-c-c-d-c (or even c-d-d-c-d-c) or c-d-e-d-c- e, which provided a resolution, with a clear break between the two sections. Typically, the ninth line created a "turn" or volta, which signalled the move from proposition to resolution. Even in sonnets that don't strictly follow the problem/resolution structure, the ninth line still often marks a "turn" by signalling a change in the tone, mood, or stance of the poem. The first known sonnets in English, written by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, used this Italian scheme, as did sonnets by later English poets including John Milton, Thomas Gray, William Wordsworth and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This example, Whoso list to hunt, by Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) gives a sense of the Italian form. It is partially a translation and partially an imitation of Petrarch’s Sonnet 190 and is considered to be one of the first sonnets written in English. Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind (a) But as for me, alas, I may no more. (b) The vain travail hath wearied me so sore, (b) I am of them that furthest come behind. (a) octave Yet may I by no means my wearied mind (a) Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore, (b) Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore, (b) Since in a net I seek to hold the wind. (a) Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt, (c) As well as I, may spend his time in vain. (d) And graven with diamond in letters plain (d) sestet There is written her fair neck round about: (c) “Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am, (e) And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.” (e) -3-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 2.2 The English sonnet (William Shakespeare, in the famous "Chandos" portrait. Artist and authenticity unconfirmed.) Sonnets were introduced to England by Thomas Wyatt in the early sixteenth century. His sonnets and those of his contemporary Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, were chiefly translations from the Italian of Petrarch and the French of Ronsard and others. While Wyatt introduced the sonnet into English, it was Howard who gave them the rhyme scheme, metre, and division into quatrains that now characterizes the English sonnet. The Elizabethans (= time associated with Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, 1558-1603) took it up with great enthusiasm after it was introduced into English poetry. Notable among those poets were Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney and, of course, William Shakespeare. Sir Philip Sidney's sequence Astrophil and Stella (1591) started a tremendous vogue for sonnet sequences: the next two decades saw sonnet sequences by a.o. William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser. These sonnets were all essentially inspired by the Petrarchan tradition, and generally treat of the poet's love for some woman. The Elizabethan poets used it to woo their mistresses and to display their poetic skills. 2.3 The Shakespearean sonnet Soon after the introduction of the Italian sonnet, English poets began to develop a fully native form. Among these poets was William Shakespeare. The form is often named after Shakespeare: not because he was the first to write in this form, but because he became its most famous practitioner. The form consists of three quatrains and a couplet. The couplet generally introduced an unexpected sharp thematic or imagistic "turn" called a volta. The usual rhyme scheme was a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. In addition, sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, meaning that there are 10 syllables per line, and that every other syllable is naturally accented. -4-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 This example, Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, illustrates the form: Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a) Admit impediments. Love is not love (b) Which alters when it alteration finds, (a) Or bends with the remover to remove. (b) O no, it is an ever fixed mark (c) That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d) It is the star to every wand'ring barque, (c) Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d) Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e) Within his bending sickle's compass come; (f) Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e) But bears it out even to the edge of doom. (f) If this be error and upon me proved, (g) I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g) -5-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 2.4 The Spenserian sonnet A variant on the English form is the Spenserian sonnet, named after Edmund Spenser (1552–1599), in which the rhyme scheme is, a-b a-b, b-c b-c, c-d c-d, e-e. In a Spenserian sonnet there does not appear to be a requirement that the initial octave set up a problem which the closing sestet answers, as is the case with a Petrarchan sonnet. Instead, the form is treated as three quatrains connected by an interlocking rhyme scheme and followed by a couplet. The linked rhymes of his quatrains suggest the linked rhymes of such Italian forms as terza rima. The example below is taken from Spenser’s Amoretti (1595). Happy ye leaves! whenas those lily hands Happy ye leaves! whenas those lily hands, (a) Which hold my life in their dead doing might, (b) Shall handle you, and hold in love's soft bands, (a) Like captives trembling at the victor's sight. (b) And happy lines on which, with starry light, (b) Those lamping eyes will deign sometimes to look, (c) And read the sorrows of my dying sprite, (b) Written with tears in heart's close bleeding book. (c) And happy rhymes! bathed in the sacred brook (c) Of Helicon, whence she derived is, (d) When ye behold that angel's blessed look, (c) My soul's long lacked food, my heaven's bliss. (d) Leaves, lines, and rhymes seek her to please alone, (e) Whom if ye please, I care for other none. (e) -6-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 2.5 The Modern Sonnet The fashion for the sonnet went out with the Restoration (1660), and hardly any sonnets were written between 1670 and Wordsworth's time. However, sonnets came back strongly with the French Revolution (1789-1799). Sonnets were written throughout the nineteenth century, but there were few very successful traditional sonnets. By the end of the nineteenth century, the sonnet had been adapted into a general-purpose form of great flexibility. This flexibility was extended even further in the twentieth century. With the advent of free verse (i.e. no meter patterns, rhyme or any other musical pattern), the sonnet came to be seen as somewhat old-fashioned and fell out of use for a time among some schools of poets. However, a number of 20th-century poets, including Wilfred Owen, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Seamus Heaney, successfully rose to the challenge of reinvigorating the form. Half-rhymed, unrhymed, and even unmetrical sonnets have been very popular since 1950. The 1990s saw something of a formalist revival, however, and several traditional sonnets have been written in the past two decades. The 21st century has seen a strong resurgence of the sonnet form, as there are many sonnets now appearing in print and on the internet: Stoned Students by Joseph S. Salemi You tell them by their wobbling zigzag stride— They stagger into class for one half-hour, Head down and collar up, so as to hide The fact that eyes are glazed, and breath is sour. With brains unhinged by hashish, pot, or coke They sit there in a semi-conscious fuddle. They don’t buy textbooks, never take a note; Their prose is sheer confusion, utter muddle. Their mouths breathe forth a narcotizing vapor; They sleep in class, or leave before the bell— They miss the midterm, don’t submit a paper, And log four weeks of absences as well, And then drift to your office, in a daze, Inquiring why they haven’t gotten A’s. -7-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Sonnet by Wendy Cope (inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 22) My glass can’t quite persuade me I am old – In that respect my ageing eyes are kind – But when I see a photograph, I’m told The dismal truth: I’ve left my youth behind. And when I try to get up from a chair My knees remind me they are past their best. The burden they have carried everywhere Is heavier now. No wonder they protest. Arthritic fingers, problematic neck, Sometimes causing mild to moderate pain, Could well persuade me I’m an ancient wreck But here’s what helps me to feel young again: My love, who fell for me so long ago, Still loves me just as much, and tells me so. Obsession by Margaret Menamin “Well now,” the shrink says, “do I have this right? You think you are obsessive. What you do is have sex with your Mrs. every night. That’s wonderful; there’s nothing wrong with you. I just call that a healthy appetite.” “But, Doc, I go home on my lunch hour too, and not for lunch. You understand me?” “Quite. A little much, but then, chacun son goût.” “Then there’s my girlfriend. Every other day I leave work early, go to a motel.” “Well, just as long as you still feel o.k.—” “I have a boyfriend whom I see, as well.” The doctor’s jaw drops. “Good grief, man, you’ve got to get hold of yourself.” “I do—a lot.” -8-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 3. Sonnets 3.1 William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 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 dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee. Sonnet 130 My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. -9-  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 3.2 Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) Sonnet 75 One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay A mortal thing so to immortalize! For I myself shall like to this decay, And eek my name be wiped out likewise. Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name; Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew. 3.3 John Donne (1572-1631) Death, be not proud (Holy Sonnet 10) Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. - 10 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 3.4 Percy B. Shelley (1792-1822) Ozymandias I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things, The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains: round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. 3.5 Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43) How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. - 11 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 3.6 Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) 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!” 3.7 Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) Sonnet XLIII What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply, And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry. Thus in winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before: I cannot say what loves have come and gone, I only know that summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more. - 12 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 3.8 Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) Anthem for Doomed Youth What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? — Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,— The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. - 13 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 4. Study questions The history and development of the sonnet 1. What does the word “sonnet” mean? 2. Is there a standard for this type of poem? If so: describe. 3. How old is this type of poetry? Where did it originate? The Italian sonnet 4. Explain in your own words in Dutch what “bipartite division” means. 5. What is a “volta”? 6. What is the difference between the octave and the sestet in terms of contents? 7. Whoso list to hunt: explain the title of this sonnet as well as the extended metaphor that Wyatt uses. The English sonnet 8. When did sonnets become popular in England? What roles did Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard play? 9. What is a “sonnet sequence” and what is it usually about? The Shakespearean sonnet 10. How is the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet different from the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet? 11. Sonnet 116: Name three characteristics of true love that are mentioned in the poem. 12. What star is meant in line 7? Explain your answer. The Spenserian sonnet 13. How is the Spenserian sonnet different from both the Shakespearean and the Petrarchan sonnet? 14. Happy ye leaves: what kind of leaves are they? Who is holding these leaves in her hands? 15. Where in the sonnet are a) leaves; b) lines and c) rhymes mentioned? 16. “My soul’s long lacked food, my heaven’s bliss” (line 12). Explain in your own words what Spenser meant. The Modern sonnet 17. Compare the subject matter of modern sonnets with traditional sonnets. - 14 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 18. What is Joseph Salemi’s opinion of his students? Use (a) quote(s) to support your answer. 19. Compare Wendy Cope’s sonnet to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 22 (click here). What exactly is the “glass” in line 1? What do you think is the main message of each poem? 20. What joke is intended in “I do – a lot” at the end of Margret Menamin’s sonnet? Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare 21. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer and make sure to refer to both the structure and rhyme scheme. 22. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 23. Describe the rhythm of the first line by means of the pattern of stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables. 24. Who or what is “thee”? 25. Who or what can have an eternal summer (line 9)? 26. What is “this” in line 14? 27. What is the theme of this sonnet, summed up in a short phrase? Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare 28. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 29. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and provide examples. 30. Write down the words that have to do with colour. Which poetic device did Shakespeare employ here? 31. How does the narrator feel about this woman? Support your answer with evidence from the poem. 32. Which two words mark the volta? Quote them. 33. Name one of the themes present in this sonnet. Explain your answer. Sonnet 75 by Edmund Spenser 34. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 35. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 36. Where are the narrator and “she”? What did the narrator try to do? 37. Is “she” much wiser than the narrator? Give your personal opinion. - 15 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 38. What is the main theme of this sonnet? Explain your answer. 39. Which other poet thinks he has found a way of overcoming death? By what means? Are they proven right? Death, be not proud by John Donne 40. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 41. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 42. What is the main theme of this sonnet? 43. Line 13 is often quoted on headstones and at funerals. What does it mean (in Dutch) and why do you think it resonates with a lot of people (in English)? Ozymandias by Percy B. Shelley 44. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 45. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 46. How many speakers can you identify in this sonnet? 47. How has irony been used in this sonnet? How do I love thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 48. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 49. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 50. Explain why the poem starts with a question: “How do I love thee?” 51. What is the main theme of this sonnet? The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus 52. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 53. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 54. Explain: l. 3 “sea-washed, sunset gates”, l. 5 “imprisoned lightning”, l. 8 “twin cities”, l. 11 “huddled masses”, l. 13 “tempest-tost”. 55. What is the main theme of this sonnet? - 16 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Sonnet XLIII by Edna St. Vincent Millay 56. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 57. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 58. How old/young might the narrator be? Support your answer. 59. What does the narrator compare him-/herself with? 60. Why would the “unremembered lads … turn to [him/her] with a cry”? 61. What is the main theme of this sonnet? Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen 62. Is this an Italian, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet? Explain your answer. 63. What poetic devices are used in this sonnet? Check the list and give examples! 64. What are “passing-bells” (line 1)? 65. Describe the setting of this sonnet. 66. What are “orisons” and why are they “hasty”? 67. Write down the words that refer to a funeral in church. 68. What is the main theme of this sonnet? Explain your answer. - 17 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 5. Poetic devices and literary elements Poetic devices are the tools a poet uses to create a powerful, memorable poem. They can create rhythm, enhance meaning or intensify the atmosphere and mood. You can find a complete list on e.g. https://literarydevices.net/ or https://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html An alexandrine is a single line of poetry, which counts a total of twelve feet (syllables). In general, they are formed of two hemistiches (half of a line) of six feet each. Both hemistiches are separated by a caesura (natural pause). Example: For a dream of freedom, maybe an illusion, I've left my family and pray they'll pardon me. for / a / dream / of / free / dom || may / be / an / il / lu / sion I’ve / left / my / fa / mi / ly || and / pray / they’ll / par / don / me Alliteration is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound on the stressed syllable, occur close together in a series. Examples: I only know that summer sang in me But came the waves and washed it away Allusion happens when a speaker or character makes a brief and casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event. Assonance takes place when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds. Examples: Do you like blue But came the waves and washed it away Enjambment: when a phrase carries over a line-break without a major pause. Example: The doctor’s jaw drops. “Good grief, man, you’ve got to get hold of yourself.” “I do—a lot.” Hendecasyllable is a quantitative meter that was used in Ancient Greece and later by the Roman poets Catullus and Martial. Each line has eleven syllables; hence the name, which comes from the Greek word for eleven. Example: A thing of beauty is a joy forever. a / thing / of / beau / ty / is / a / joy / for / e / ver - 18 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word imagery is associated with mental pictures. However, this idea is but partially correct. Imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex than just a picture. Examples: It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images. The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. – “Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense. He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. – “whiff” and “aroma” evoke our sense of smell or olfactory sense. Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. A metaphor develops a comparison which is different from a simile i.e. we do not use “like” or “as” to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or hidden comparison and not an explicit one. Examples: “All the world's a stage / And all the men and women merely players” “All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind” Love is a battlefield Ode is a form of poetry such as sonnet or elegy, etc. Ode is a literary technique that is lyrical in nature, but not very lengthy, in which poets praise people, natural scenes, and abstract ideas. Ode is derived from a Greek word aeidein, which means to chant or sing. Onomatopoeia: besides being a really fun word to say aloud, onomatopoeia refers to words that resemble in sound what they represent. Pentameter is a literary device that can be defined as a line in verse or poetry that has five strong metrical feet or beats (see also: Rhythm). There are different forms of pentameter: iamb, trochaic, dactylic and anapaestic. The most commonly used pentameter in English is iambic. It also can be described as a line which consists of ten syllables, where the first syllable is unstressed, the second is stressed, the third is unstressed and so on until it reaches the 10th syllable. - 19 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Example: Shall I || com pare || thee to || a sum || mer’s day? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 X / X / X / X / X / Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. For example, when we say, “The sky weeps” we are giving the sky the ability to cry, which is a human quality. Thus, we can say that the sky has been personified in the given sentence. Examples: The wind whispered through dry grass. The flowers danced in the gentle breeze. The fire swallowed the entire forest. Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer. There are several types of repetitions commonly used in both prose and poetry, e.g. anaphora: repetition of words at the start of sentences or verses. Example: And all the songs we've sung / And all the hopes we've held / And all the flags we've hung Rhythm is a literary device which demonstrates the long and short patterns through stressed and unstressed syllables particularly in verse form. English poetry makes use of five important rhythms. These rhythms are of different patterns of stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables. Each unit of these types is called a foot. The most commonly used rhythm is iambic. It consists of two syllables of which the first syllable is not stressed while the second syllable is stressed. Example: All night, all day, in dizzy, downward flight X / X / X / X / X / Sibilance is a literary device in which a hissing sound is created within a group of words through the repetition of “s” sounds. Unlike alliteration, sibilance does not depend on where the “s” sounds occur within the words: they can be at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Other sounds that are regarded as sibilant are: [sh], [z], [dg]. Example: She sells seashells by the seashore. - 20 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a direct comparison. Examples: Our soldiers are as brave as lions. “Elderly American ladies leaning on their canes tilted toward me like towers of Pisa.” Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, “smile” is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you. Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context in which they are used. “A chain”, for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where and how it is used. Examples: The dove is a symbol of peace. A red rose (or the colour red) stands for love or romance. “Thus in winter stands a lonely tree”: winter is a symbol of old age or death. Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly. It is important not to confuse a theme of a literary work with its subject. Subject is a topic which acts as a foundation for a literary work, while a theme is an opinion expressed on the subject. For example, a writer may choose a subject of war for his story and the theme of a story may be the writer’s personal opinion that war is a curse for humanity. Usually, it is up to the readers to explore a theme of a literary work by analysing characters, plot and other literary devices. Examples: Love is bittersweet Evil is always punished The love of power is the demon of men - 21 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Webquest Sonnets Remember to state your sources appropriately. Plagiarism and/or the use of AI such as ChatGPT is not allowed. If you are uncertain how to reference your sources, please consult your teacher. General question 1. Metre! Watch this video: https://youtu.be/dUnGvH8fUUc. Then summarise it in your own words, focusing on the differences in the stress patterns found in English and French. Please include the terms ‘iambic pentameter’ and ‘alexandrine’ in your answer. William Shakespeare 2. When were Shakespeare’s sonnets first published, and by whom? 3. Who was the first group of sonnets (1-126) addressed to and what (or rather: whom) were they about? Provide a quote from one of the poems to support your answer. 4. Who was the second group of sonnets (127-152) addressed to and what do they describe? Again, provide a quote from one of the poems to support your answer. Edmund Spenser 5. Reread Sonnet 1 (i.e. Happy ye leaves – page 6) and research this quote from lines 9-10: “the sacred brook / of Helicon, whence she derived is”. What was Spenser referring to? 6. Sonnet 75 is part of a sonnet cycle or sequence. What is the name of the entire sequence? To whom was it addressed? 7. Which long poem is considered Spenser’s masterpiece and what was it about? Use at least 30 words. 8. Read Sonnet 79 (click below). What is the theme of this sonnet? Use a quote to support your answer. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45190/amoretti-lxxix-men-call- you-fair - 22 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 John Donne 9. Donne is considered one of the most notable “metaphysical poets”. An important characteristic of metaphysical poetry is the use of conceits. Explain what this term refers to and provide an example from one of Donne’s works. 10. Sonnet 10 features apostrophe (the literary device, not the punctuation mark). What is meant by this term? How has Donne used it in this poem? 11. Read Donne’s Sonnet 17 (click below) and explain what it is about, in your own words. Why did Donne write this poem? https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44111/holy-sonnets-since-she- whom-i-lovd-hath-paid-her-last-debt Percy B. Shelley 12. Explain the title of this sonnet: Ozymandias. What does it mean and who does it refer to? 13. Watch Mr Bruff’s video (click below) and summarise in your own words both the historical and literary context in which this poem was written. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Egz2bDQ0o 14. Name at least two themes featured in this poem. Explain your answer, using quotes from the sonnet. Elizabeth Barrett Browning 15. Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43 is part of a sonnet sequence called “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. Where did this title come from? Give at least two explanations. 16. Read Sonnet 32 (click below). Summarise what the poem is about and explain which feeling it reflects. https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/sonnets-portuguese-sonnet-32 Emma Lazarus 17. New vs. old: who or what would the “old” Colossus have been? Use at least 30 words. 18. Compare and contrast the two statues: what do they have in common, how are they different? Name at least four aspects. 19. What was the occasion that Lazarus decided to devote a poem to a statue? In other words: what caused her to write this poem? - 23 -  Literature 1 - Sonnets V6 2024-2025 Edna St Vincent Millay 20. What prize did Edna St Vincent Millay win and why was it special? 21. Read “Love is Not All” https://poets.org/poem/love-not-all-sonnet-xxx and its analysis https://poemanalysis.com/love-is-not-all-by-edna-st-vincent-millay- poem-analysis/. In what way(s) is this sonnet ‘modern’ and which aspects are traditional? Wilfred Owen 22. Which experiences and people influenced Wilfred Owen as a poet after 1917? 23. When and where did Wilfred Owen die? 24. Many soldiers wrote about their experiences during WW1, as did Rupert Brooke. You can find one of his most famous poems, The Soldier, here: http://www.rupertbrooke.com/poems/1914/v_the_soldier/ Compare Brooke’s sonnet with Owen’s work, focusing on the contents and points of view. - 24 -