Sonnet 60: "Like as the Waves..."
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Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd, Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth And delves the parallels in beauty's brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand. |
Review the Sonnet Form!
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Pro Tip: It's Like an Essay
In many ways, a Shakespearean sonnet functions like an essay. It sets out a problem or situation in the first quatrain, letting us know that there is a moment of doubt or discomfort that the speaker faces here.
In the second quatrain, the speaker complicates the issue, telling us the tangles and knots that the issue raises for him as he's trying to work the problem out. In the third quatrain, he comes to an end point or a realization, often signaled by a "But..." or "Yet..." or "And yet..." The technical term for this turnaround is a volta. In the concluding couplet, the speaker ultimately gives his last words on the topic, telling us where he's come to. In some ways, then, a sonnet is a little essay, a little story, and a little journey of the speaker from problem to resolution. |
Move from Big Picture to Small
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Questions About Structure
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Look at the Details
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Questions About Detail
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Find the Message
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Look at the End
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Student Assessment: Write a Multiple-Choice Section for This Poem
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Write Your Own!
Using the directions on this page, students will get in a group of about 5 or so to write a multiple-choice section using the MC question stems and the Auden poem. As a reminder, here are some of the most common stems. Students should come up with at least 5 different questions covering all parts of the poem and using 5 different stems. They should generate at least two distracters and one correct answer for a total of three answer choices per question. Multiple-Choice Stems In order to write an effective multiple-choice passage, you will need to use multiple-choice "stems." Those are the basic questions most AP passages include as part of their question set. Stems (Certain words are underlined for emphasis)
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