MB UNIUD

EXERCISES (SONNET X)

Exercise  1

1. The poem addresses to Death.
2. The poet tells Death not to be proud: he reduces the power of Death using parodying her.
3. The final statement says that death won't exist forever. It expresses a deep belief in Christianity and eternal life after death.

Exercise  2

 a)

1. g) death has not control over events and people (lines 1-3)
2. c) death falsely believes that it can kill people (lines 3-4)
3. f) death is a pleasurable experience, not a painful one (lines 6-7)
4. a) the best of human kind desire death (lines 7-8)
5. e) death has repulsive companions (lines 9-10)
6. b) sleeping potions can make people sleep better than death (lines 11-12)
7. d) christians are promised eternal life (13-14)

b) Number 1(death has not control over events and people), 3 (death is a pleasurable experience, not a painful one), 4 (the best of human kind desire death) and 6 (sleeping potions can make people sleep better than death).

Exercise 3 

1. Rhyme scheme: ABBA ABBC DEED FG; the structure is that of the English sonnet.
2. John Donne uses a dislocated syntax along all the poem.

Answer the questions below without looking back at the two poems. 

1. The speaking voice is a man speaking to his lover.
2. The woman cries because her lover is going to leave her alone.
3. "will" is the word rhyming with "skill" and the term "wicked" refers to the man's will versus the woman's one.
4. The man is afraid of the woman's judgment. "Feares" can vanish understanding each other.
5. The picture is not tangible, it's just imagined.
6. People won't die.
7. The best men go with Death.
8. After that there is the eternal life in order to the Christianity ideal.