Sonnets Quiz

In what way is a Petrarchan sonnet different from a Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet?

• It has five lines.

• It uses lines of iambic pentameter.

• It is divided into an octave and a sestet.

• It focuses on a single topic or concern.

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Read these final lines from “Sonnet 60” by William Shakespeare.

Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,

And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow,

Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth,

And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,

Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

How does the final couplet relate to the four lines before it?

• It offers a solution to the problems caused by time’s destructive nature.

• It contrasts the hopeful love in the poet’s verse with time’s destruction.

• It restates the idea that time destroys us all in the end.

• It provides greater detail about time’s actions.

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Read these final lines from “Sonnet 29” by William Shakespeare.

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee,—and then my state

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

How does the final couplet relate to the four lines before it?

• It contrasts with the miserable state described in the four lines.

• It stresses the idea that the speaker is in a miserable state.

• It clarifies the change that takes place in the speaker.

• It sums up the reasons for the speaker’s confusion.

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Which of these lines from “Sonnet II” by Edna St. Vincent Millay contains an example of personification?

• I miss him in the weeping of the rain

• I want him at the shrinking of the tide

• The old snows melt from every mountain-side

• And last year’s leaves are smoke in every lane

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Read these lines from “Sonnet 12” by William Shakespeare.

And nothing ’gainst Time’s scythe can make defense,

Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

How does figurative language help convey meaning in these lines?

• The metaphor comparing time to a scythe stresses that time is a useful tool.

• The metaphor comparing time to a scythe stresses how it cuts people down.

• The personification of time stresses the bravery it displays in claiming lives.

• The personification of time stresses the rigid schedule that it keeps.

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Read these lines from “Sonnet 39” from Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney.

Come Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,

The baiting- [resting] place of wit, the balm of woe,

The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,

Th’ indifferent judge between the high and low.

What does the string of metaphors in these lines suggest about sleep?

• Sleep is something valuable that all human beings can enjoy.

• Sleep eases stress and makes people calm.

• Sleep is usually welcome.

• all of the above

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What is a group of four lines in a sonnet called?

• Quatrain

• Cinquain

• Quartet

• Tetrain

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A sonnet contains _____ lines. 

• 12
• 4
• 14
• 16

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