Discovering sonnets (free printable worksheet) - intermediates and up

I decided to do something a bit different with my intermediates today and take a look at a Shakespearean sonnet. For most of them this was completely new ground and they had some wonderful thoughts about the nature of beauty. Some didn't like it, so it was good food for debate.

William Shakespeare - Sonnet CXXX

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red, than her lips red:

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound:

I grant I never saw a goddess go,

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

  And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare*,

  As any she* belied with false compare.

*rare = special, superb (old English usage)

*she = woman (old English usage) 

This is a great introduction to sonnets since most of the language is pretty accessible, and the concept is engaging. Maybe that's why it was on my GCSE English syllabus!

Since this was only an introduction and not an in-depth reading, I prepared a few simple questions to skim the surface of the form and meaning.

Click here to view or download the full worksheet.

Links open in Google Docs format and you can then download, edit, or print as required.

Have you ever tackled poetry with your class? If these worksheets are useful to you, please leave a comment.