Do not use secondary, critical sources for this paper. You may, of course, use
reference material such as the OED and Abrams’ A Glossary of Literary Terms.
Craft a specific, interesting thesis for your short essay. Support your ideas about this
text with examples and quotations.
Write on one (1) of the following sonnets: Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus #16
OR Sidney’s Astrophil & Stella #45.
In clear and concise prose identity the central theme(s) of your chosen poem and
discuss how the author uses language, imagery, tone, and form to convey this
meaning or message. Explain how form in your chosen poem subverts or reinforces
the poem’s themse or central idea.
Things you might want to consider when preparing your response:
• What is the main subject or topic of the poem?
• What type of speech is the speaker using? (Colloquial? Legal terminology?
Religious?)
• Is there anything significant about the diction of the poem? Do any of the
words in this poem have a double meaning? Look up any unfamiliar words in
the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and look up any key words for possible
secondary or archaic meanings that may be relevant to your chosen poem.
• Can you characterize the tone of the poem? (happy? Angry? Sad?) What gives
us a sense of tone in this poem?
• What images are central to or recur throughout the poem? What is their
significance?
• Are there any metaphors? Why might the author have chosen them Are there
any allusions? Any references to historical figures of literary texts? What is
the significance of these?
• Can you identify any schemes or tropes (e.g polytoton, chiasmus, metaphor,
etc.) Employed by the author? What do they add to the poem?
• Are there any repeated words or phrases? Why are they repeated?
• Does the focus meaning of the poem change over the course of the poem?
• Look at the punctuation. Is there anything unusual about it? What about
capitalization?
• What’s the rhyme scheme? Is the poem organized into couplets, quatrians,
etc.? What is significant of this form?
• If you write on Wroth then you may want to consider whether Wroth’s voice
is a distinctly feminine voice or perspective on love and courtship.
• If you write on Sidney’s sonnet then you might want to consider what we
really learn about the beloved and what we learn about the speaker.
These questions are not a formula but a starting point for your own thoughts. Your
ideas should evolve from your own observations about the poem. When you arrive
at some answers, you are ready to organize your ideas and write. Always keep in
mind the “So what” question: why is it important for the reader to know what you
have just analyzed and explain? How does your analysis of the poem’s form and
style help us to understand its content more completely?
