Sonnet 18: Writing about 'Sonnet 18'
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- In this lesson, we will explore the meaning of 'Sonnet 18' and how to write about the poem and its themes.
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This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak’s terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.
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8 Questions
Reviewing your learning
Q2.
Figurative language is when ...
A phrase or image represents its literal meaning
A phrase or image represents love
A phrase or image represents the rhythm of a poem
Q3.
In 'Sonnet 18', summer is presented as being ...
Almost perfect
Awful
Perfect
What have you learned this lesson?
Q5.
Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' uses which poetic metre?
Blank verse
Iambic quatrameter
Iambic tetrameter
Q6.
What does the metre of Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' symbolise?
it symbolises summer
It symbolises the flow of human speech
It symbolises the ticking of a clock
Q7.
Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' follows what rhyme scheme for the majority of the poem?
An AABB rhyme scheme
Rhyming couplets throughout
There is no rhyme scheme
Q8.
Why does Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' end with a rhyming couplet?
It mimics a nursery rhyme
It mimics the beating of a human heart
It shows that the poem has come to an end
8 Questions
Reviewing your learning
Q2.
What is the metre called in 'Sonnet 18' that mimics the beating of a heart?
Iambic octameter
Iambic quatrameter
Iambic tetrameter
Q3.
What happens to the rhyme scheme in 'Sonnet 18'?
It changes from AABB to a rhyming couplet
It changes from AABB to ABAB
It remains the same throughout
What have you learned this lesson?
Q5.
What does the speaker suggest about the comparison between his lover and a summer's day?
His lover is just like a summer's day
His lover is not as beautiful as a summer's day
His lover's beauty will fade like a summer's day
Q6.
Why does the speaker list the negatives of a summer's day?
He emphasises how terrible a summer's day can be
He emphasises the perfection of a summer's day
He emphasises the similarities between a summer's day and his lover
Q7.
What does the line "But thy eternal summer shall not fade" refer to?
The speaker's lover's beauty is not as impressive as summer
The speaker's lover's beauty will fade like that of summer
The speaker's lover's beauty will not fade, like summer
Q8.
What does the speaker mean when he uses the rhyming couplet "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee"?
That his lover is given life by the life of other men
That his lover will fade like eyesight and breath
That his lover will love forever in the hearts of others.