Year 7

Sonnet 18': Structure in 'Sonnet 18'

Year 7

Sonnet 18': Structure in 'Sonnet 18'

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. In this lesson, we will explore how Shakespeare uses structure to symbolise the theme of love in 'Sonnet 18'.

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This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak’s terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.

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8 Questions

Reviewing your learning
Q2.
Iambic Pentameter is when...
A line of poetry has fifteen pairs of syllables
Correct answer: A line of poetry has five pairs of syllables
A line of poetry has ten pairs of syllables
Lines of poetry have a range of syllables
Q3.
An ABAB rhyme scheme is when ...
All of the lines have the same rhyme at the end
Correct answer: Alternate lines rhyme with each other
Pairs of adjacent lines rhyme
The poem has no set rhyme structure
What have you learned this lesson?
Q5.
When a phrase or image is used to mean something other than its literal meaning, this is called ...
Correct answer: Figurative Language
Heroic Couplets
Iambic Pentameter
Literal Language
Q6.
In 'Sonnet 18' Shakespeare presents summer as being ...
Beautiful and almost perfect
Beautiful and never ending
Beautiful and perfect
Correct answer: Beautiful but imperfect
Q7.
What does the speaker mean when he says, "But thy eternal summer shall not fade"?
That his lover is almost perfect, like the summer
That his lover is dead
That his lover's beauty is fading
Correct answer: That his lover's beauty will not fade, unlike the summer
Q8.
Why does the speaker compare the young man to a summer's day?
Summer is something that everyone can relate to, so it is a good comparison
They are both beautiful, but the summer is better than the young man as it is perfect while he is imperfect
Correct answer: They are both beautiful, but the young man is better than summer as he is perfect while summer is imperfect
They are both fleeting and end too soon

8 Questions

Reviewing your learning
Q2.
Figurative language is when ...
Correct answer: A phrase or image is used to mean something other than its literal meaning
A phrase or image represents its literal meaning
A phrase or image represents love
A phrase or image represents the rhythm of a poem
Q3.
In 'Sonnet 18', summer is presented as being ...
Almost perfect
Awful
Correct answer: Imperfect
Perfect
What have you learned this lesson?
Q5.
Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' uses which poetic metre?
Blank verse
Correct answer: Iambic pentameter
Iambic quatrameter
Iambic tetrameter
Q6.
What does the metre of Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' symbolise?
it symbolises summer
Correct answer: it symbolises the beating of a heart
It symbolises the flow of human speech
It symbolises the ticking of a clock
Q7.
Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' follows what rhyme scheme for the majority of the poem?
An AABB rhyme scheme
Correct answer: An ABAB rhyme scheme
Rhyming couplets throughout
There is no rhyme scheme
Q8.
Why does Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' end with a rhyming couplet?
It mimics a nursery rhyme
It mimics the beating of a human heart
Correct answer: It represents the coming together of the two lovers
It shows that the poem has come to an end