A Lesson for High School Language Arts
 

"Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest              This is the third in the
Now is the time that face should form another;               sonnet sequence written
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,                 by the bard;  this one,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.           interestingly enough, is
For where is she so fair whose unear'd womb                a personal exhortation from
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?                             the speaker to a favorite young
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb,                           man to marry and start a family.
Of his self-love to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime;
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
    But if thou live, remember'd not to be,
    Die single and thine image dies with thee. "
                                     William Shakespeare

Length of time:  Three ninety-minute blocks

Subjects:  English, Social Studies

Learner Outcomes:

     Students will be able to recognize both Italian and English sonnets.
     Students will recognize the sonnet as representative of both classical form and
     Renaissance convention.
     Students will recognize sonnet conventions and innovations in modern
     versions of the form.
     Students will compose couplets, quatrains and sonnets of their own.

Materials: a variety of sonnets from Petrarch, Wyatt, Surrey, Wordsworth, Millay and/or others

Technology Tools:

     Overhead projector
     Tape recorder and cassettes

Teacher Notes:  Students should have completed a study of the classical
           ideas of order, form and structure, and be familiar with the background of
           cultural, social, and political changes brought about by The Renaissance.

Procedures:

     Teacher will present the two types of sonnets on overhead projector and on
     handouts.
     Transparencies will be used to demonstrate the structures, rhyme schemes,
     and conventions of the Italian and English sonnets.
     Recordings of various sonnets will be played.
     Handouts will be used for student marking of rhyme schemes, conventions,
     and special details such as spondees, slant rhymes, closing couplets, Italian
     octave/sestet arrangement, English quatrain/couplet arrangement.
     Paraphrasing will be a significant part of this study in order for students to see
     the conventions of Renaissance thought and the attitudes of men toward their
     place in the world, toward women, and toward life in general
     Readings of contemporary sonnets will be an important part of this lesson;  the
     sonnets of Edna St. Vincent Millay may be used to demonstrate how a woman
     in the twentieth century used a combination of English and Italian forms to
     show a feminist spirit before it was fashionable or politically correct to do so
     ("I shall forget you presently, my dear..." or "What lips my lips have kissed..."
     among others).
     Students will attempt to write couplets, quatrains and sonnets along with the
     teacher.

Enrichment Activities:  Students may be directed to do research on the writers of
        sonnets during the Renaissance to study the more humanistic thinking of the
        and to study the contrasts between what were the ideals (in life, love, politics,
        human freedom) and what were the realities.

IGOs:  English: 10.1, 10.12, 10.13, 10.23, 10.30, 10.46, 10.62, 10.82
            Social Studies: 10.14, 10.25

National Standards

Evaluation/Assessment:  Quizzes and test on the sonnet form; creative attempts
        at writing poetic lines, iambic pentameter, English sonnet quatrains and
        Italian and English sonnets

References:

     Teachers may find wonderful resources on the internet by using the key words
     shakespeare  shakespeare sonnets  italian renaissance  edna st.vincent millay
     Standard sophomore and senior level texts such as Holt Rinehart Winston's
     Elements of Literature are adequate in providing basic information on sonnets and
     on Renaissance background.  This is not a difficult topic to research and sonnets of
     varying levels of difficulty may be used for different ability levels.

Author:  Barbara B. Scofield (with Mary Humphreys and Joanna Smith); Greenbrier
        East High School, Lewisburg, WV 24901; email:scofieldbarbara@hotmail.com

                      "Whether or not we find what we are seeking
                        is idle, biologically speaking....."
                                                                 ....Edna St. Vincent Millay