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196 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

Effect of Literary
Unifying Sonnet 73 Elements and
Idea William Shakespeare Techniques

mortality That time of year thou mayst in me behold speaker compared
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang to dying season
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
5 In me thou see’st the twilight of such day speaker compared
mortality As after sunset fadeth in the west, to end of day
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire speaker compared to
10 That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, dying fire
mortality As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more insight: love grows
strong, stronger with the
threat of the death of
To love that well which thou must leave ere long. a loved one

INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS ➔ Step One: Annotate the Passage Based on a
Step One: Annotate the Passage Based on a Unifying Idea
Unifying Idea Teachers should guide students Unlike the prose fiction analysis question that you practiced in Unit 1, the poetry
to examine the beginning and ending of the analysis question most often includes an entire poem rather than a short excerpt
poem closely (and perhaps circle keywords in from a longer text for you to interpret. When you identify a unifying idea in a full
the prompt) to determine a unifying idea. Once poem, your goal is to arrive at an interpretation of the whole work.
the idea is established, students can focus their To communicate an insight about an idea, poets often write using condensed lan-
analysis on the associations related to the idea guage and, at times, unusual sentence structure, which requires you to read carefully
and determine an insight to arrive at their and methodically. Poetic language is highly sensory with words that have strong con-
interpretation. notations. Additionally, to represent ideas, poets often compare familiar images and
objects to more abstract concepts. The two most common comparison techniques
you will encounter are metaphor and simile. In a poem, these comparisons shed light
on the speaker’s attitude, tone, or deeper understanding of an experience. To interpret
this deeper understanding, you must make associations between the literal context in
the poem and the overall figurative meaning suggested by the comparisons.
Consider these questions as you read and annotate for comparisons in poetry:
• What are the qualities of the literal or familiar object (also called the
comparison subject)?
• How do these qualities relate to — or reveal — characteristics of the main
subject of comparison?

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196 Unit 2 Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

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