Year 11 Sonnets

As part of our study of poems, our class has been studying sonnets and we have come up with our own. We are studying poetry because it is part of our reading assessment and is helping us learn how to read poetry for our external exam at the end of the year. We read My mistress’s eyes by William Shakespeare and XLIII by Elizabeth Barret Browning from her series Sonnets from the Portuguese.

While the sonnet traditionally follows a strict rhythm or 10 syllables per line (iambic pentameter), some students chose to only follow the rhyme scheme- ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. We were able to choose our topics.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)
by William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.


XLIII

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

-From Sonnets from the Portuguese,
Elizabeth Barret Browning (1806-1861)