Name:_______________________________
Date:____________________
Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Version
1. Shall I compare thee to a summer's
day?
2. Thou art more lovely and more
temperate:
3. Rough winds do shake the darling
buds of May,
4. And summer's lease hath all too short
a date:
5. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven
shines,
6. And often is his gold complexion
dimmed,
7. And every fair from fair sometime
declines,
8. By chance, or nature's changing
course untrimmed:
9. But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10. Nor lose possession of that fair thou
ow'st,
11. Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in
his shade,
12. When in eternal lines to time thou
grow'st,
13. So long as men can breathe or eyes
can see,
14. So long lives this, and this gives life to
thee.
Paraphrased Version
1. OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare
you to a summer day
2. But, you know, you're prettier and
even better, even calm
3. Because sometimes it gets windy and
the buds on the trees get shaken off
4. And sometimes summer doesn't last
very long
5. Sometimes it's too hot
6. And everything gorgeous loses its
looks
7. Because eventually everyone and
everything gets old and ugly and
shabby
8. BUT (and here's the twist) you're
going to keep your looks for ever
9. Your beauty will last for ever
10. I'm going to make sure that you never
lose your good looks
11. And that nasty old Death can never
brag about owning you
12. Because I shall write this poem about
you
13. As long as men can breathe (are you
breathing?)As long as men can see
(are you looking at this poem?)
14. Then this poem lives, and it gives life
and memory to your beauty.
1) Write your own line in Iambic Pentameter style-- remember that is 5 iambs=2 beats!
2) Separate it into iambs and mark with the unstressed=u and stressed= /
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Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare
Directions for ​Shakespeare’s Version​:
1) Separate the iambs… remember 5 per line.
2) Mark the unstressed=u and stressed=/ syllables, circle the noun, and box the verb of each line.
3) At the end of every line write the rhyme scheme, point out the 3 quatrains, and the single
couplet.
4) Come up with your own title!____________________________________________________
Shakespeare’s Version
Paraphrased Version
1. When in disgrace with Fortune and
men's eyes,___
2. I all alone beweep my outcast
state,__
3. And trouble deaf heaven with my
bootless cries,___
4. And look upon my self and curse my
fate,___
5. Wishing me like to one more rich in
hope,___
6. Featured like him, like him with friends
possessed,___
7. Desiring this man's art, and that man's
scope,___
8. With what I most enjoy contented
least,___
9. Yet in these thoughts my self almost
despising,___
10. Haply I think on thee, and then my
state,___
11. (Like to the lark at break of day
arising___
12. From sullen earth) sings hymns at
heaven's gate,___
13. For thy sweet love remembered such
wealth brings,___
14. That then I scorn to change my state
with kings.___
1. When I feel unlucky and as if no one
likes me
2. And I feel all alone and cry
3. And it's as if my prayers to heaven
have no power at all because no one
is listening
4. And I feel sorry for myself and think
that 'm the unluckiest person alive
5. I wish that I had that persons
opportunities
6. That I looked like that cute person and
was as popular as the most popular
person in my class
7. Wishing that I had that man's talent,
and that man's brain
8. Not at all happy with the things I
usually enjoy.
9. Even then, almost hating myself for
thinking this way
10. And then I think about you, and then
my soul,
11. Just like the songbird that sings at the
moment the light of day
12. Breaks over the cold earth, sings a
song filled with joy and light
13. Because I remember the sweet love
we share, and the richness that it
brings
14. And, at that point, remembering what
we have together, I wouldn't change
my life even with a king.
Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
Directions for ​Shakespeare’s Version​:
1) Separate the iambs… remember 5 per line.
2) Mark the unstressed=u and stressed=/ syllables, circle the noun and box the verb of each line.
3) At the end of every line write the rhyme scheme, point out the 3 quatrains, and the single
couplet.
4) Put the poem into your own words.
5) Come up with your own title!____________________________________________________
Shakespeare’s Version
1. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the
sun,___
2. Coral is far more red, than her lips
red,___
3. If snow be white, why then her
breasts are dun:___
4. If hairs be wires, black wires grow on
her head:___
5. I have seen roses damasked, red and
white,___
6. But no such roses see I in her
cheeks,___
7. And in some perfumes is there more
delight,___
8. Than in the breath that from my
mistress reeks.___
9. I love to hear her speak, yet well I
know,___
10. That music hath a far more pleasing
sound:___
11. I grant I never saw a goddess go,___
12. My mistress when she walks treads
on the ground.___
13. And yet by heaven I think my love as
rare,___
14. As any she belied with false
compare.___
Paraphrased Version