TMA Cover Form FACULTY OF LANGUAGE STUDIES A150 Voices and Texts Part (I): STUDENT INFORMATION (to be completed by student) 1. Name: 2. Student ID No: 3. Se

TMA Cover Form
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE STUDIES
A150 Voices and Texts

Part (I): STUDENT INFORMATION (to be completed by student)
1. Name: 2. Student ID No:
3. Section No: 4. Tel. : 5. E-mail:
I confirm that the work presented here is my own and is not copied from any source.
Student's signature:
Part (II): TUTOR'S REMARKS (to be completed by tutor)
Tutor name: Signature:
Date TMA received: Date returned:

TUTOR’S REMARKS:


Content










Language and Organization




Earned Mark


A150: Voices and Texts
TMA -Semester 2 (2015-2016)
Cut-off date: end of 10th week
[Prepared by Course Chair: Dr. Shaju Ouseph]

The Voices and Texts of Authority
This assignment relates to Book 1 (chapter 2) of the course and carries 20 marks.
Question
John Donne, the 17th C metaphysical poet, wrote the sonnet ‘Batter My Heart’ (p. 61, Book 1) and William Shakespeare, the great playwright and Elizabethan poet wrote the sonnet ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day’. Taking into account these two sonnets, write an essay of 1200 words focusing on the following questions.
1. What made each poet a canonical figure to the extent that his works are still acknowledged and studied? (5 marks)
2. How did the cultural and historical features of the era to which each poet belonged influence his writing? (5 marks)
3. Discuss the aesthetics of each poem: metaphors, similes and rhyme scheme? (5 marks)
(Introduction and Conclusion carry 5 marks)

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Suggested Readings
1. Robbins, R. (ed.)(2008) The Poems of John Donne. Longman: London.
2. http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/18
3. http://www.bardweb.net/england.html
4. http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/
5. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-donne
6. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/john-donne