1. Poems about Love

2. "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" p. 543
This poem, along with the other Shakespearean sonnet that we read for class, is part of a sequence of sonnets that Shakespeare wrote. There are 154 of them in all. This is number eighteen.
The point of this sonnet cycle and Elizabethan “love poetry” in general was twofold: the poet was to praise the “beloved,” yes, but showing poetic skill and wit (which for the Elizabethans meant skill with language and putting together ideas and images in a new and startling way) was an equally important goal.

3. "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day” questions p. 543
In "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day," why is the summer's day not adequate for comparison?
What is it that makes the subject of the poem (the "beloved") immortal?
What is the "problem" in this poem? Where is the "turn"? (Remember our discussion of sonnets.)
Comment on the poet's use of nature in this poem.
How is this a poem about love?

4. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (p
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (p. 710) and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” p. (716)
Both of these poems are pastoral poems. This means that they idealize and romanticize life in the country as pure, carefree, and idyllic (peaceful).
“The Nymph’s Reply” was written in direct response to the first poem. Poets who were familiar with each others’ work would often respond to one another in this way.

5. Questions for “Passionate Shepherd” and “The Nymph’s Reply”
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
How does the shepherd depict the life that he is offering his beloved?
What does he do to try to convince her to come be with him?
Does this romanticized view of nature detract from the poem as a "love poem," or add to it?
“The Nymph’s Reply”
How does the nymph answer the shepherd's offer? Why?
How does the speaker in this poem put "her" own twist on the ideas in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"?
Do you see any similarities between this poem and "Shall I Compare Thee"?

6. "What Lips My Lips Have Kissed" p. 660
We move forward in history several hundred years here, but many of the themes, if not the treatment of those themes, remain the same.
What differences/similarities between this poem and the other do you notice?
How does her attitude toward love compare to the others we read for today?
Look at specific lines in them poems as you make your comparisons.

7. In Class POEM
Write a poem (it doesn’t have to rhyme or have a meter… it can be free verse) that responds to one of the poems we read for tonight.
You can create a character to be the speaker (as Raleigh created the character of the Nymph to be his speaker), or you can reply as yourself.
“Shall I Compare Thee…” p. 543
“What Lips my Lips Have Kissed” p. 660
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” p. 710
“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” p. 716