‘Sonnet XXIX’, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Lesson plan Introduction Ask students to draw a basic picture of a tree and label the different parts. What is the term for the main branch of a tree? What is your favourite type of tree and why? Think of someone you care about. Compare him or her to a type of tree. Development 1) Look at the following image: What name is given to a plant that grows on a tree, as in the image above? © Education Umbrella, 2016 1 How would you describe the relationship between the tree and the vine? Is it mutually beneficial or does one benefit more than the other? 2) Dictation Dictate the first four lines of ‘Sonnet XXIX’ to the class. A simile is a comparison between two different things using ‘like’ or ‘as’. What simile does the speaker make to describe his or her feelings? What does the word ‘straggling’ mean? What word in the four lines is it most similar to? 3) Distribute the poem. Read it twice, first individually, then as a class. 4) Who is this sonnet addressed to? What name does the speaker give this person? This sonnet is one of 44 sonnets that Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote for her husband, Robert Browning, during their courtship, which was done entirely by post over a period of nearly two years between 1844 and 1846. When the two eventually met they fell in love and eloped to Italy because Elizabeth’s father would not allow any of his daughters to marry. 5) Imagery is visually descriptive or figurative language. What is the main image of Browning’s sonnet? List all the related words in the poem. 6) What emotions do the three exclamation marks convey? 7) What does Barrett Browning want her lover to do? Quote lines of the poem to support your answer. 8) What is the effect of switching to the imperative tense briefly midway through the poem (‘Renew’, ‘Rustle’, ‘let’)? 9) How many lines does this poem contain? What is the rhyming scheme of the first eight lines? What is the rhyming scheme of the final six lines? ‘Sonnet XXIX’ is what is known as a Petrarchan sonnet, after the 14th century Italian poet who popularised this style. The rhyming scheme of the octet (first eight lines) is abbaabba (‘bud’, ‘tree’, ‘see’, ‘wood’, ‘understood’, ‘thee’, ‘instantly’, ‘should’). The rhyming scheme of the sestet (final six lines) can vary. In Browning’s sonnet it is cdcdcd.
10) In ‘Sonnet XXIX’ Barrett Browning compares her thoughts of her beloved to a vine growing on a tree. Can you think of a different analogy involving natural elements? Choose one of the images below, or think of your own image, and then use it to write an octet in the style of that in ‘Sonnet XXIX’. If you’d like, begin with ‘I think of thee!—’ © Education Umbrella, 2016 2 © Education Umbrella, 2016 3 © Education Umbrella, 2016 4