Now you're ready to decode the sonnets of Sidney and Shakespeare.
Look at the attached worksheet on decoding the sonnets of Sidney and Shakespeare and choose one sonnet of Shakespeare's and one sonnet of Sidney's and answer the questions on those TWO poems that are posed in the margins.
Submit your responses in a Word file by clicking on the link to the assignment "Decoding the Sonnets of Shakespeare and Sidney" by midnight on Saturday. *
DECODING THE SONNETS OF SHAKESPEARE AND SIDNEY
Please note that there are questions in the bubbles in the margins. Please answer the questions that are in the margins on a SEPARATE WORD DOCUMENT, properly formatted and titled using MLA Style. Please do NOT respond in the text bubbles; instead, write out your responses, as always, in paragraph form. Remember to choose one Shakespeare and one Sidney poem and to answer all the questions on each of two poems. Whenever possible, quote and cite quotes for support. Remember to answer questions on only TWO POEMS: 1 Shakespeare and 1 Sidney.
DO NOT USE OUTSIDE SOURCES
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
“Sonnet 73”
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 seest the twilight of such day 5
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth steal away,
Death's second self, which seals up all in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, 10
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Shakespeare’s “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 damask’d, red and white, 5
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: 10
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.
Sir Philip Sidney (1553-1586)
“Sonnet 1”
Loving in truth, and fain [desirous] in verse my love to show,
That the dear She might take some pleasure of my pain,
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,
---I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe, 5
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburned brain.
---But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay [prop];
Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows, 10
And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
---Biting my trewand [truant] pen, beating myself for spite,
---"Fool," said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart and write."
Sidney’s “Sonnet 41”
Having this day my horse, my hand, my lance
Guided so well, that I obtain'd the prize,
Both by the judgment of the English eyes,
And of some sent from that sweet enemy France;
Horsemen my skill in horsemanship advance, 5
Town-folks my strength; a daintier judge applies
His praise to sleight, which from good use doth rise;
Some lucky wits impute it but to chance;
Others, because of both sides I do take
My blood from them who did excel in this, 10
Think Nature me a man of arms did make.
How far they shot awry! the true cause is,
Stella look'd on, and from her heav'nly face
Sent forth the beams, which made so fair my race.