© Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All rights reserved.ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do our attitudes toward the past and future shape our actions?William Shakespeare (1564 –1616) In
addition to numerous plays, Shakespeare
also wrote two long narrative poems—Venus
and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece—as
well as 154 sonnets. During Shakespeare’s
time, poetry was widely regarded as an art
practiced only by nobles and gentlemen.
Nonethless, Shakespeare, a rustic interloper,
introduced himself as a poet between 1593
and 1594. His sonnets, poignant musings
about life, provide insights about love,
mortality, and the effects of time.Mary Wroth (1587–1651) was born into
an aristocratic family. She spent most of her
childhood in Penshurst Place, one of the
great country houses of the Elizabethan and
Jacobean periods. She was well educated
and a fixture of the social life of London. Her
poems were widely circulated among the
elites of her time. She fell out of favor with
polite society after the publication of her
romance, The Countess of Montgomery’s
Urania, and lived the rest of her life in
obscurity.Edmund Spenser (1552–1599) was born
in London into a working-class family. As
a boy, he attended the Merchant Taylors’
School on a scholarship and later worked
his way through Cambridge University. In
1580, he took a position as secretary to
the Lord Deputy of Ireland. There he began
his greatest work, The Faerie Queen. In his
sonnet sequence Amoretti, he created a new
sonnet form, now known as the Spenserian
sonnet. Spenser was well regarded by his
contemporaries for his formal innovation and
unique style.Sonnet 12, Sonnet 60, Sonnet 73
Like the sonnet sequences of other
poets, Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets are
numbered. Most of them are addressed to
a handsome, talented young man, urging
him to marry and have children who can
carry on his talents. Shakespeare, among
other poets, used the sonnet form to bring
the fundamental experiences of life—time,
death, love, and friendship—into tight
focus.Sonnet 32
This sonnet comes from Mary Wroth’s
sonnet sequence Pamphilia to
Amphilanthus, an extended meditation
on the nature of love, with its joys
and sorrows. The turning point in this
sequence is the extravagant “Crowne,” a
set of fourteen sonnets that explored the
possibility of a spiritual and perfected love,
and broke with the tradition of the time
that focused more on courtship.Sonnet 75
Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” comes
from a longer work by Spenser—the
sonnet sequence Amoretti, Italian for
“little love poems.” This sonnet sequence
is unique in that it is addressed to the
poet’s wife, Elizabeth Boyle, not to some
distant, unattainable, or unrequited love.
It’s also an example of the Spenserian
sonnet, which he created using a unique
structure and rhyme scheme.About the Poets Backgrounds
Poetry Collection 1 373LIT17_SE12_U03_B1_SG.indd 373 20/03/16 2:57 AMCLOSE READ: Poetry As groups perform the
close read, circulate and offer support as needed.
• Remind groups that poetry is intended to be
read aloud. Try to have each member of each
group read at least part of a poem.
• If a group is confused about a poem’s
meaning, have them look at the figurativelanguage in the poem and try to connect that
to meaning.
• Challenge groups to come to consensus
about each sonnet’s meaning, with individual
members stating their cases for their points
of view.FACILITATING SMALL-GROUP READING
Step 4: Creative/Transformative
Dimension Engage students in creative,
constructive actions that address the social realities
discussed. Ask, “How can the problem or issues be
resolved?” and “What role can we play in helping
resolve the problem?” Projects can involve drama,
role play, art, poetry, stories, and newsletter
publication.Small-Group Learning 373
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