Remix the Textbook

Sonnet 28

Francesco Petrarch

Anonymous Translator

1.      Dramatic Situation: It is through a female perspective of how to deal with the loss of a lover; first person.  She wants to shut herself from the rest of the world and hide away with her woes for the rest of her life.

2.      Structure:  Sonnet; ABBA rhyming scheme; broken up with commas and semi-colons.

3.      Theme:  The effects of losing a loved one.  She is so depressed she cannot not go on with life; with the end of her love’s life, her life ended as well.

4.      Grammar:  Uses correct grammar, punctuation such as commas and semi-colon to separate the end of a sentence or end of a paragraph.

5.      Imagery:  There us a lot of usage of metaphors, similes and symbolism.  She describes losing her love as “alone, and lost in thought, the desert glade…”

6.      Diction:  She uses depressing and sorrowful words such as lingering, shun, anxious, dreary.  They are powerful words that make the reader feel empathy for the woman in the poem.

7.      Tone: Sad and depressing; she has just lost the love of her life and so she expresses such loss through a disheartening tone.

8.      Rhetorical Devices: Pathos and ethos is something that the reader will feel when reading the woman’s loss.

9.      Procidy: All the words flow with one another, and there is a complete start and finish to the poem’s story.

Sonnet 18

Francesco Petrarch

Translated by Noti

1.      The dramatic situation is that the speaker cannot convey how beautiful a woman is and how much she means to him through ryhme.  Her beauty cannot be conveyed through mere words.

2.      Structure in the poem includes quatrains, and couplets.  There is alos many commas and semi-colons, which is when one thought switches to the next.

3.      The theme is beauty.  He is so enthralled in her beauty that he believes it is indescribable. "But no fit polish can my verse attain."

4.      Grammar is long, lenghty thoughts. They all are connected to eachother, however.

5.      There is much imagery in the poem.  He uses good action verbs which help readers visualize the situation.

6.      The diction is romantic, formal language.  There are no colloquilisms.

7.      The tone is admiring. He is constantly complimenting the woman.

8.      There is a rhetorical question in the poem. "But say what muse can dare so bold a flight?"

9.      The procity is a well flowing poem.  The commas and semi- colons help emphasize at the right times.

Sonnet 69

Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephan Tapscott

1.      The speaker is a young male, speaking about a young female.  The poem takes place in olden times.  The speaker is confessing his undying love, stating that he is nothing without her.

2.      The sonnet is written in two complete sentences.  It is a romantic sonnet about love, so all of the pieces flow together quite nicely.

3.      The theme is undoubtedly love.  The speaker notes at the end, "and through love I will be, you will be, we'll be."  It is about two people that cannot live without the presence of the other.

4.      The meaning behind the grammar of the sonnet is meant to invoke feelings of romanticism.  There is a part that reads, "…without the light you carry in your hand, golden, which maybe others will not see."  The meaning behind these two lines is to show that they are soul-mates for one another.

5.      The sonnet begins with the line, "maybe nothingness is to be without your presence."  This figure of speech likens how the speaker would feel without the presence of his love.

6.      The diction is related to words associated with love.  For example, when I think of a red rose (as talked about in the second stanza), I automatically associate that item with love.

7.      The tone verges on desperation.  The speaker continually mentions that he has to have this person in his life, stating that he would be nothing without her.

8.      Imagery and similes are the two literary devices predominantly used.  The second half of the first stanza reads, "like a blue flower, without you walking later through the fog and the cobbles.

9.      Although the structure fits together nicely, the prosidy is rushed, making me think that this sonnet was written as an apology.  I think that the speaker is worried that he will not be able to get his love back, and so is pleading for her forgiveness by quickly stating how much she truly means to him.