Grade 12 ELA: Sonnet Analysis and Creation
This worksheet focuses on the analysis of Shakespearean sonnets and the creation of original sonnets, aligning with Grade 12 ELA curriculum.
Includes
Standards
Sonnet Analysis and Creation
Name:
Date:
Score:
Read each question carefully and provide thoughtful, detailed responses. For the creative writing section, apply your understanding of sonnet structure and poetic devices.
Read the following sonnet by William Shakespeare and answer the questions that follow:
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? 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.
1. What is the primary theme of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18?
The fleeting nature of summer.
The destructive power of time.
The immortality of art and beauty.
The pain of unrequited love.
2. The 'volta' or 'turn' in Sonnet 18 occurs at which line?
Line 5
Line 9
Line 12
Line 14
1. Identify and explain one example of personification used in Sonnet 18.
2. How does the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet contribute to its overall structure and meaning?
1. A sonnet is a poem of lines, typically written in iambic pentameter.
2. The most common types of sonnets are the Shakespearean (or English) and the (or Italian) sonnet.
3. The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet is .
Write an original Shakespearean sonnet (14 lines, iambic pentameter, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme) on the theme of 'Nature' or 'Technology'. Pay attention to imagery, figurative language, and the traditional sonnet structure.