Sonnet Notes:

Structure & Rhyme Scheme: 14 line poem and is written in iambic pentameter. Each
line has 10 syllables and has a specific rhyme scheme.

Shakespearean Sonnets:
Include a turn or “volta” which is a moment in the poem where the theme or the
tone changes in a surprising way.

Read the poem. Annotate the poem. Label the rhyme scheme. Find examples of simile,
metaphor, and imagery. What kind of meter was the poem written? Based on the
poem’s structure and rhyme scheme, what type of poem is this?

Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; A Commented [LS1]: Simile

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; B Commented [LS2]: Metaphor

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; A

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. B Commented [LS3]: Quatrain 1 (stanza that consists of 4
lines)
I have seen roses damasked, red and white, C
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; D
And in some perfumes is there more delight C
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. D Commented [LS4]: Diction with NEGATIVE connotation

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know E Commented [LS5]: Quatrain 2

That music hath a far more pleasing sound; F

I grant I never saw a goddess go; E
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. F Commented [LS6]: Diction with NEGATIVE connotation

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare G Commented [LS7]: Quatrain 3

As any she belied with false compare. G Commented [LS8]: Couplet (stanza that consists of 2 lines
with end rhyme)
Commented [LS9]: “Volta” or turn: Shakespeare goes
from criticizing his mistress to all of a sudden telling how
much he loves her
Read the poem. Annotate the poem. Label the rhyme scheme. Identify an example of
slant rhyme. Find examples of simile, personification, and anaphora.

“How Do I Love Thee?” (Sonnet 43)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. A 1

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height B
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight B
For the ends of being and ideal Grace. A
I love thee to the level of every day’s A 5 Commented [LS10]: Slant rhyme: Grace & days

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. B

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right. B Commented [LS11]: Significant because 1. Illustrates that
her passion is as strong as man’s need for freedom 2. The
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. A simile is comparing her love to the fight for human rights
I love thee with the passion put to use C
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. D 10
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose C
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, D
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, C
I shall but love thee better after death. D