Discussion Questions for

Shakespeare’s Sonnets
© Copyright Academic Year 2004-2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 130 page 305 20 pts Due______________

1. Provide your own title for this sonnet based on the context.
2. Explain the octave of this sonnet.
3. Explain the sestet of this sonnet.
4. What is the attitude of love expressed in this sonnet?
5. Explain what the last two lines refer to in terms of “false appearances”
6. Write down three flaws that the speaker indicates about the woman he is writing about.
7. Write down the three physical objects that the speaker focuses on in the beginning of
the sonnet.
8. How does the speaker use the notion of color in the first six lines to indicate how he
feels about his mistress?
9. Indicate how the speaker uses the sense of smell in this poem.
10. Indicate how the speaker uses the sense of sound in this poem.

Sonnet 116 page 304 10 pts Due______________

1. Provide your own title for this sonnet based on the context.
2. Explain the octave of this sonnet.
3. Explain the sestet of this sonnet.
4. Which phrase in the first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure in love that is constant
and strong.
5. What does the poet say about the worth of love?
6. What is meant by the poet when he proclaims that true love is indeed an "ever-fix'd
mark"
7. Which phrase in line 9-12 reaffirm the perfect nature of love that is unshakeable
throughout time.

Sonnet 29 page 303 10 pts. Due______________

1. Provide your own title for this sonnet based on the context.
2. Explain the octave of this sonnet.
3. Explain the sestet of this sonnet.
4. Identify an adverb in this sonnet.
5. Identify an adjective in this sonnet.
6. What do you think are the speaker’s strongest feelings in this sonnet? Include lines to
support your answer.
7. What changes the speaker’s mood in this sonnet?