1. Sonnet 75
by Edmund Spenser

2. AP/H English 12
Dercher
Mini – Read
Reading Indicators
R.1.3.4
R.1.4.5
R.1.4.9 R

3. One day I wrote her name upon the strand
But came the waves and washed it away;
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
5 “Vain man,” said she, “that doest in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise.”
“Not so,” quod I, “let baser things devise
10 To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.”

4. One day I wrote her name upon the strand
But came the waves and washed it away;
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
5 “Vain man,” said she, “that doest in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise.”
“Not so,” quod I, “let baser things devise
10 To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.”

5. Remember Reading Strategy
Remember Reading Strategy! Read once for the beauty and flow of the language! Read twice and decide what you “get” versus “not get”: paraphrase! Read a third time to select interesting word choices, figurative language devices, rhetorical constructs, construction choices, and mechanics.
Write your ideas down! Create a theme statement! Create a pool of terms that you could use to discuss the sonnet! Think: “This contributes to the writer’s ability to convey or delivery the theme in this way… Analysis: Go beyond paraphrasing and identification!

6. Eke: archaic for “also”
Footnote:
Strand: beach
Assay: try
Eke: archaic for “also”
In this sonnet, the woman thinks the speaker is
a. foolishly hopeful
b. properly determined
c. attractive but unsuitable
d. likely to outlive her
2. The speaker in the sonnet expects to achieve a kind of immortality by
a. finding perfect love
b. writing in the sand
c. admiring the woman he loves
d. writing about eternal themes

7. 4. What does “second hand” mean?
3. The opening image “One day I wrote her name upon the strand, / But came the waves and washed it away” is best described as expressing the idea of
a. love’s impermanence
b. time passing
c. death’s destruction
d. nature’s transcendence
4. What does “second hand” mean?
a. written a second time
b. written as an after though
c. used
d. coming after another in affection