Cia Soto

APLIT
Priest
31 October 2016
Sonnet Questions

1. In the right margin, write your first thoughts about the poem.
Ok

2. In Shakespeare’s day, poets often made extravagant claims about the person they loved.
What extravagant claim is made at the start of this poem?
It is claimed here that people are only temporarily beautiful, and that it eventually fades and
deteriorates.

3. Why does Shakespeare then say he refutes the claim?

He takes it back as he writes that this person’s beauty is eternal, and nothing can take that away.

4. What image does Shakespeare use to demonstrate that summer weather is unpredictable?
He states that it’s “sometime too hot… And… sometime declines” but “by chance” it’s still a
“changing course”.

5. What is the “eye of heaven,” and why is it not constant or trustworthy?

The sun, referencing that the truth that the sun illuminates abling us to see is uncertain with other,
average people.

6. According to lines 7-8, what might happen to any kind of beauty?

Other kinds of beauty fade over time and grow, to be more blunt, uglier.

7. In the third quatrain (lines 9-12), the speaker makes a daring statement to his lover. What
does he claim will never happen?
He dared claim that his lover would never grow ugly and that they would remain the most fair for
all of eternity.

8. Quote the line containing an example of personification.

“Nor shall death brag thou wand’ rest in his shade,”

9. The narrator opened the sonnet with a question about whether or not he might find an
appropriate simile or metaphor to describe the person he loves. How has he answered that
Questions?
In his statement that “thy eternal summer shall not fade,” as he uses it to describe his lover’s
beauty.

10. What does the final couplet mean and what does “this” refer to?
The love and admiration the narrator has for his lover.

11. What is the overall tone of the poem? Provide evidence.

 The poem provides a romanticized assurance, as the narrator notes of beauties that “sometime
decline…[and some that have their] complexion dimmed”, but nevertheless reassures his lover that only
the beauty that his lover beholds “shall not fade”. Overall he is swoon, and trying to charm his lover
through such daring, assuring statements.