G12U2_ST_shak_48-52.fm Page 48 Monday, October 6, 2008 5:50 AM
Name
Date
Sonnets 29, 106, 116, and 130 by William Shakespeare
Literary Analysis: Shakespearean Sonnet
Read the following sonnet by Michael Drayton (1563–1631). First indicate the rhyme scheme
by writing the appropriate letters on the lines at the right. Then answer the questions that follow
the poem.
Calling to mind since first my love began
Th’incertain times oft varying in their course.
How things still unexpectedly have run,
As please the Fates, by their resistless force,
[5]
Lastly, mine eyes amazedly have seen
Essex great fall, Tyrone his peace to gain.
The quiet end of that long-living Queen,
This King’s fair entrance, and our peace with Spain,
We and the Dutch at length ourselves to sever.
[10]
Thus the world doth, and evermore shall reel,
Yet to my goddess am I constant ever,
Howe’er blind Fortune turn her giddy wheel.
Though heaven and earth prove both to me untrue,
Yet am I still inviolate to you.
Lines 7–10 refer to the failure of the Earl of Essex (Robert Devereux) to conquer the Earl of
Tyrone (Hugh O’Neill), to the death of Elizabeth I, who was succeeded by James I, and to other
historical events.
1. According to the rhyme scheme, is Drayton’s sonnet an example of Shakespearean form or
of Petrarchan form?
2. What is the premise stated in the poem?
3. What is the conclusion stated in the poem?
4. In what way is Drayton’s philosophy similar to Shakespeare’s?
Unit 2 Resources: Celebrating Humanity
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