Sonnet 116
By William Shakespeare
Pre-reading
1. Vocabulary
a. Change the meaning of the words by adding a prefix.
Prefix
Prefix
perfection
changing
permanence
mortality
relaxed
certainty
typical
transient
constant
Learning check
In pairs: student A reads out the words without prefix and student B, without looking at the task,
has to add prefixes to the words.
b. Match words that mean (almost) the same.
unchanging
fleeting
enduring
change
constant
alter
eternal
transient
d. Turn the following words into nouns.
Noun
immortal
eternal
perfect
Noun
permanent
constant
alter
Learning check b. and c.
In pairs: student B reads out the words in the left columns, and student A, without looking at the
tasks, has to come up with the corresponding synonyms and nouns.
© Gyldendal, 2012
1
Post-reading
LEARNING CHECK
No study aids.
What do you remember?
a) With what does the speaker compare the lover? _________________________________
b) How is the lover going to live eternally? ______________________________________
Text-related assignment
1. Written assignment: Write YOUR OWN sonnet.
You may either compose it independently or use one of the templates below.
 You must write in iambic pentameter.
 There must be a systematic rhyme scheme.
 Take advantage of the possibilities given by the structure (quatrains/octave, tercets/sestet,
couplet) when you develop your ideas through the poem.
 You must NOT use the word love in the text, but love may be the theme.
Shall I compare
You are
And
Sometimes,
And often
And every
By
But
Nor
Nor
When
So long
So long
a
b
a
b
c
d
c
d
e
f
e
f
g
g
Let me not
Admit impediments
O no,
It is
I
If this
I
a
b
a
b
c
d
c
d
e
f
e
f
g
g
Wider contexts
1. Literary context: intertextuality: Wendy Cope, “Sonnet VI”
Read Wendy Cope’s “Sonnet VI: Let me not to the marriage of true swine” in Making Cocoa for
Kingsley Amis. Faber and Faber 1986, and discuss what Wendy Cope achieves by referring to
Shakespeare’s sonnet 116.
2. Gender question.
These two Shakespeare sonnets are said to be addressed to a young man. How does this information
change your interpretation of the poems? Discuss.
© Gyldendal, 2012
2