1. Read Through the Poem Below

Name:

Marking a Poem

Part A:

1. Read through the poem below.

2. Read through the poem again and then, with a partner mark as much as you can as to voice, meaning, and poetic technique/devices.

“That time of year thou mayst in me behold” (Sonnet 73)

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire

Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Part B. With your partner, answer the following questions concerning Sonnet 73. Then go back and mark what you may have missed in the poem the first time but in a different color.

- What is this poem about? Who is speaking? Who is being addressed?

- What is the tone of the poem? How do you know?

- What is being said in the first quatrain? How?

- Why is the time of year significant?

- What are the leaves a metaphor for? How do you know?

- What do the boughs and the choirs represent? How does this reinforce the theme?

- Why does the poet start with this?

- What is being said in the second quatrain? How?

- How does the addressee see the speaker?

- What function does night serve? What tone does this create?

- What affect does the alliteration have here?

- What is being said in the third quatrain? How?

- What can you notice about the first phrase? How does it compare to the second quatrain’s beginning? What is the point of this?

- What are the ashes a metaphor for? What is to be inferred from this?

- What is the speaker trying to say to his audience?

- What is being said in the couplet? How?

- Why does this make the poem more poignant?

- What is the desired outcome from this poem?

HOMEWORK

Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son”

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.

Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

Will man lament the state he should envy?

To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,

And if no other misery, yet age!

Rest in soft peace, and asked, say, Here doth lie

Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.

For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such

As what he loves may never like too much.