MYPNA_TE_G12_U3_web.pdf

PLANNING

Small-Group learninG

performance TaSk

Should literature of the

past be rewritten into

present-day language for

today’s readers?

uniT performance-BaSed

aSSeSSmenT

What is the relationship

of human beings to time?

eSSenTial QueSTion:

How do our attitudes

toward the past and

future shape our actions?

Summary

Shakespeare’s sonnets are addressed to a young man whom the poet knows

well. Sonnet 12 focuses on the passage of time through images such as day

turning to night, dark hair turned white, trees that have lost their leaves, and

summer turned to winter. The poet’s advice to the young man is that having

children will provide him with immortality. Sonnet 60 also explores the passage

of time. The images focus on how youth matures over time and beauty is lost

to old age. The speaker hopes that this sonnet will stand against time as a

testament to the young man’s beauty. In Sonnet 73, the speaker is focused on

his impending death, which he communicates through images such as “yellow

leaves,” “ruin’d choirs,” “twilight of such day,” and “black night.” The poet

believes that he will die soon and never see the young man again.

In Sonnet 32, Mary Wroth explores the passage of time. The speaker describes

the swiftness of time for young lovers. She asks that love’s progress may slow,

so the lovers can enjoy their time together.

In Sonnet 75, Edmund Spenser explores the theme of immortality. In this

sonnet, the speaker tells his love that, while she may “die in dust,” his sonnet

will immortalize their love.

audio SummarieS

Audio summaries of the

sonnets are available online in

both English and Spanish in the

Interactive Teacher’s Edition or

Unit Resources. Assigning these

summaries prior to reading the

selections may help students

build additional background

knowledge and set a context for

their first read.

Poetry Collection

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING • SONNET 12, SONNET 60, SONNET 73 •

SONNET 32 • SONNET 75

connection to essential Question

All the sonnets connect to the Essential Question, “How do our attitudes toward

the past and future shape our actions?” These poems reveal that a poet’s view

of time often dwells on the ideas of love and immortality. These two ideas are

intertwined in the poems included in this unit.

connection to performance Tasks

Small-Group Learning Performance Task In this Performance Task, students will

explore the questions, “Should literature of the past be rewritten into present-

day language for today’s readers?” Students will identify instances of difficult

language that they encountered in the text of the sonnets.

Unit Performance-Based Assessment Each of the sonnets discusses the theme

of time, especially in relation to what can be done in the present to control the

future. Human beings cannot undo events from the past or control events in the

future. They can only act in limited ways to control what they do in the present.

insight

Reading these selections will help students understand how sonnets

are structured and the different forms of the sonnet. Students will

appreciate how this form and the use of imagery enables the poet to

develop a specific theme in the sonnet.

372A UNIT 3 • FACING THE CUTURE, CONFRONTING THE PAST

LIT17_TE12_U03_B1_SG_INTER.indd 1 16-04-11 9:13 AM