Compare and Contrast Shakespeare’s Sonnet
1. Compare and Contrast Shakespeare’s Sonnet 1 and Sonnet 127. These two Sonnets are
written with an astonishing self-consciousness, a deep sense that love opens enormous
vistas of novel reflection, not all of it flattering. How does the poet’s love for the young
man differ from his love for the Dark Lady? What claims does Shakespeare make about
his love for each?
2. Analyze the power of poetry in at least two of Shakespeare’s sonnets. What gives poetry
such remarkable power? What are some poetic strategies Shakespeare uses to create
powerful, provocative, memorable verse? In other words, how does Shakespeare use
poetic tactics (such as, for example, rhyme, meter, word choice, images, and figures of
speech) to his advantage to win the attention and the admiration of his readers?
3. Discuss the attitude towards women and love shown by the speaker in at least two of
these poems by Donne: “Air and Angels” (1380), “The Canonization” (1377), “Elegy
XIX: To His Mistress Going To Bed” (1393), or “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”
(1385).
4. Compare “The Flea” and Holy Sonnet 14 (“Batter my heart, three person’d God”). In
what specific ways does the speaker in each poem develop an argument urging his
listener to grant his request? What do these two poems together reveal about Donne’s
poetic concerns?
