MYPNA_TE_G12_U3_web.pdf

POETRY

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NOTES

How fast thou fliest, O Time, on love’s swift wings

To hopes of joy, that flatters our desire

Which to a lover, still, contentment brings!

Yet, when we should enjoy thou dost retire.

Thou stay’st^1 thy pace, false time, from our desire,

When to our ill thou hast’st^2 with Eagle’s wings,

Slow, only make us see thy retire

Was for despair, and harm, which sorrow brings;

O! slack^3 thy pace, and milder pass to love;

Be like the Bee, whose wings she doth but use

To bring home profit, masters good to prove

Laden, and weary, yet again pursues,

So lade^4 thyself with honey of sweet joy,

And do not me the Hive of love destroy.

1. stay’st continues.


2. hast’st hurries.


3. slack slow.


4. lade load.

5

10

Sonnet 32

from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus

Mary Wroth

POETRY

376 UNIT 3 • FACING THE FUTURE, CONFRONTING THE PAST

LIT22_SE12_U03_B1_SG.indd 376 23/03/21 12:28 PM

FACILITATING

Analyze Rhyme

Circulate among groups as students conduct

their close read. Suggest that groups close

read Sonnet 32. Encourage them to talk

about the annotations that they mark. If

needed, provide the following support.

ANNOTATE: As students work through

the poem, have them mark the words that

determine the rhyme scheme, or work with

small groups to have students participate

while you highlight them together.

QUESTION: Guide students to consider what

kind of rhyme scheme Wroth uses, noting

whether Shakespearean (abab cdcd efef gg),

Spenserian (abab bcbc cdcd ee), or some

variation thereof is indicated.

Possible response: She uses a variation of

the Spenserian form: abab baba cdcd ee. The

ab rhymes from quatrain 1 are reversed in

quatrain 2.

CONCLUDE: Help students to formulate

conclusions about the importance of these

details in the text. Ask students to consider

why the author might have chosen to use the

same rhymes in the first two quatrains. What

is the effect of that and of the rhyme scheme

in general?

Possible response: It seems the poet wanted to

make definite distinctions between sections of

the poem. Wroth’s use of abab in quatrain 1 and

baba in quatrain 2 links these quatrains together.

The new rhyme scheme in the third quatrain sets

it apart from the first two, and the concluding

couplet stands alone as well.

Remind students that a rhyme scheme is

formal pattern of rhyme in a poem. Explain

that Spenser was considered to be less of

a dramatist than Shakespeare and more of

a traditionalist. Point out that one example

of this can be found in his internal rhyming

structure. In Shakespearean structure, the

poem builds to a final couplet (abab cdcd

efef gg). The effect is a sort of climax to the

form. Spenser, on the other hand, includes

two internal couplets (abab bcbc cdcd ee).

This somewhat dilutes the impact of the final

couplet. The effect is more pronounced to

the ear when the two types of sonnets are

read aloud.

CLOSER LOOK

PERSONALIZE FOR LANGUAGE

English Language Support

Image and Meaning Have students examine the image that

accompanies Sonnet 32. Ask them to describe the image. Then

ask them to suggest how the image reflects the poem’s meaning.

Students may point out the contrast between the plant’s new life

and the snow of winter; or they may explain the heart-shaped space

where the plant is growing as symbolic of the love in the poem.

Invite students to think of other images that might better accompany

this poem and have them justify their responses using textual

evidence from the poem. ALL LEVELS

376 UNIT 3 • FACING THE FUTURE, CONFRONTING THE PAST

LIT21_TE12_U03_B1_SG.indd 376 14/04/21 2:06 PM