Paper #1: Paper # 1 requires you to compare/contrast two sonnets in a well-organized
essay. Before you begin, you must have a firm grasp on what a sonnet is (a 14 line poem in
iambic pentameter, with either the Italian or the English rhyme scheme and structure). This is
clearly explained in the lecture on “The English Renaissance Sonnet” in Week 2. You should
also read and print out the following Course Documents: “Some Useful Literary Terms,” “How
to Quote,” and “Some Qualities of Successful Literary Analysis Papers.” Most important of all
is the document “Paper #1,” which explains in detail how to go about writing a successful essay.
For some of you, LIT 311 is the first course in which you are required to write the kind of
literary analysis essay which will be required in upper-division literature classes. Please use
your opportunities to learn how to write successful papers in this class. Remember that you can
get help from your instructor or from a NU Writing Center near you.
The paper which follows was written by a former student in my LIT 311 class. It is an
excellent paper because it states a clear thesis about the two sonnets, describes and interprets the
imagery well, compares the tones and forms of the two sonnets, and concludes that they are both
different from the usual Petrarchan models. You can use this paper as a model for what you will
write, but you may not write about either Spenser’s “Sonnet 34” or Wroth’s “Sonnet 68,”
since they have both been explicated in this paper.
A Comparison of Two Love Sonnets
Susan Purkart 2/15/84 6:18 AM
Comment [1]: Note that the essay has all the standard elements: a specific title; a thesis; well-­‐
organized paragraphs; a conclusion; one-­‐inch margins; double-­‐spacing. I have chosen a pair of sonnets to compare and contrast. The two sonnets I will be
writing about are “Sonnet 34”, by Edmund Spenser, and “Sonnet 68”, by Mary Wroth. Both
Spenser’s “Sonnet 34” and Wroth’s “Sonnet 68” were published around the same time period.
One was written by a man, one by a woman. These two sonnets have more in common that they
do differences. Both sonnets have similar themes, use similar figurative language and tones, and
appear to be very similar in rhyme scheme. Both sonnets progress through a tone of sorrow and
hopelessness to one of faith and hope in love.
Susan Purkart 6/13/12 4:54 PM
Comment [2]: Note clearly stated thesis emphasizing similarities. “Sonnet 34” opens with a simile that compares the speaker to a ship in the ocean. “Lyke
as a ship, that through the ocean wyde” (1) is the opening line of the poem. This brings to mind
the visual image of a ship all alone in the middle of the ocean. This visualization sets a tone of
loneliness. Spenser goes on to tell the reader that this ship has been getting on its way by
following a bright star in the sky. A storm has rolled in and blocked the ship’s view of the star.
Susan Purkart 2/15/84 7:38 PM
The line in the sonnet reads, “Whenas a storm hath dimd her trusty guyde” (3). The mention of a
1 Comment [3]: Note that quotation is well integrated into writer’s sentence, with proper punctuation and line reference. storm cues the reader that something bad is coming. The sonnet progresses and we learn that the
ship, a simile for the speaker, is terribly off course without his guiding star to show him the way.
Susan Purkart 6/13/12 4:56 PM
Comment [4]: Good interpretation of the simile. In Spenser’s time, a ship sailing out of sight of land had only the stars as a guide.
In the third quatrain of “Sonnet 34”, there is a turn. We feel a change in the tone of the
sonnet, and our knowledge of the situation at hand is changed. The quatrain begins with, “Yet
hope I well that, when this storme is past,/ My Helice…” (9-10). We learn that the “star” the
Susan Purkart 6/13/12 5:08 PM
Comment [5]: Unfamiliar terms like this need to be explained. speaker has been speaking of is actually a person. It is Helice, known today as the Big Dipper,
the love of the narrator’s life. He uses a simile to compare his lover to his guiding star. The
Susan Purkart 2/15/84 7:34 PM
Comment [6]: A metaphor. Understand the difference between simile and metaphor, two kinds of poetic comparisons. storm is a metaphor for the turbulence they are experiencing in their relationship. We can now
understand that the narrator is currently separated from Helice. We also understand that he feels
lost without her. There is at line 9 a change in the tone of the sonnet. It changes from lonely and
sorrowful to hopeful. We learn that the narrator is hopeful that he will soon be reunited with
Helice. The closing couplet tells us that the narrator looks forward to the day he is back with
Helice. Until then he walks with heavy thoughts on his mind and sorrow in his heart.
Wroth’s “Sonnet 68” personifies the pain of love lost as an unwanted guest in the
opening lines of the sonnet. “My pain, still smothered in my grieved breast,/ Seeks for some
ease, yet cannot passage find/ To be discharged of this unwelcomed guest” (1-3). She sets a tone
of sadness and painfulness from the beginning of the sonnet as she talks about the pain in her
heart that she cannot get rid of.
As we read on, we find the use of a simile that likens the speaker to a ship that has run
aground. The sonnet reads, “Like to a ship on Goodwin’s cast by wind” (5). It goes on to say
that the more the ship struggles, the more it gets itself stuck on the shoal until she is totally lost.
The use of imagery to depict the helplessness of the situation follows: “Sunk, and devoured, and
swallowed by unrest,” (8), gives the reader a sense of the despair the narrator is feeling.
2 There is a turn in the tone of the sonnet in the last line. “Yet faith still cries, “love will
not falsify” (14), tells us that the speaker does have faith and hope in love. She feels that love is
true and should be something that one continues to strive for, no matter how much pain is
endured in the pursuit of it.
Both of these sonnets are Italian sonnets. They fit the mold of an Italian sonnet in that
they are each arranged with an octave and a sestet. “Sonnet 34” has a rhyme scheme of
a,b,a,b,b,c,b,c,c,d,c,d,e,e. “Sonnet 68” has a rhyme scheme of a,b,a,b,b,a,b,a,c,c,d,e,e,d. They
Susan Purkart 2/15/84 7:30 PM
Comment [7]: Note standard method of describing a poem’s rhyme scheme. are alike in that they both have a hopeful outlook on the possibilities of love. This is not a
common theme in Italian sonnets. Italian sonnets following Petrarch usually feature the idea that
the speaker’s love for the noble lady is unobtainable. It is by nature a hopeless situation.
Susan Purkart 6/13/12 5:24 PM
Comment [8]: Good on both rhyme schemes and on difference from the usual Petrarchan relationship. But in “Sonnet 68” and “Sonnet 34”, there is hope. “Sonnet 34” explains the situation
Susan Purkart 2/15/84 7:26 PM
that the speaker is separated from his love and lost without her in the octave. There is a turn as
Comment [9]: Note good transition from preceding paragraph. the speaker says, “Yet hope I well, that when the storme is past/ My Helice the lodestar of my
lyfe/ will shine again” (9-11). This turn is one of tone. We feel that the speaker does not think
that all is lost. We learn that he is hopeful for the future of his romantic situation. “Sonnet 68”
explains that the speaker is suffering great pain. The turn in this sonnet does not come until the
last line, “Yet faith still cries, ‘love will not falsify’” (14). We learn that the speaker here also
has hope that love will prevail. I get the feeling from these sonnets that this love is obtainable.
In “Sonnet 34” there is an existing relationship with Helice that is temporarily on hold. In
“Sonnet 68” I do not get the impression that there is a case of unobtainable love going on. The
tone in both starts out hopeless, helpless, and sad, but they both finish on a note of hope .
Susan Purkart 2/15/84 7:28 PM
Comment [10]: Good concluding sentence, reaffirming thesis. Works Cited
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed.
New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. Print.
Susan Purkart 6/13/12 5:23 PM
Comment [11]: Source of the two poems (the textbook) is properly cited. 3