Description

Sonnet Journal 2

Language (Purpose: to analyze how the poet uses language in the sonnet)

1. Vocabulary: Identify at least three key words in the sonnet, words that seem particularly important or that are unfamiliar to you. Look them up in the dictionary (preferably the Oxford English Dictionary) and write down their most relevant meaning or meanings. What new insights into the sonnet arise from understanding its key words?

2. Imagery: List the images in the sonnet. Do the images relate to each other in some way? Do they forma pattern or cluster together? How do the images develop or clarify the subject?

3. Figurative Language: Identify and analyze any similes, metaphors, symbols, understatements, hyperboles, personifications, or paradoxes? Analyze metaphors with an eye on the thing described, the thing used to describe it, and the connotations of the comparison. How do the figures of speech help articulate the ideas in the sonnet?

4. Biographical and Historical Sources: Identify at least one source of biographical information about your poet and one source about the historical context of the sonnet. Your historical source could provide information about the time the sonnet was written or about historical references that appear in the sonnet.

Write out Works Cited entries in MLA format on each source.