21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES & THE

WORLD
Answer Sheet - Quarter 2 Module 3 Week 3:

NAME: Marienne Lourica G. Rotoni GRADE/STRAND/SECTION: 11 ABM Osteocytes

ADDRESS: Poblacion, Cajidiocan, Romblon

PERFORMANCE TASK
Critique of Sonnet 109 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet 109 also referred to as O! never say that I was false of the heart is a portrayal of pure
love and devotion unchanged by time and situation. Thematically, Sonnet 109 stresses the
affection, which the poet holds for the young man. The poem explores the ambiguity of a
fulfillment of a promise made by the poet professed love. The poem follows a consistent rhyme
structure of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and it is composed in iambic pentameter, the most typical
of all English meters. Shakespeare adopts various literary techniques in Sonnet 109, most
notably imagery and alliteration. Imagery is seen when the poet utilizes particularly clear and
outstanding portrayals, which appeal to the human senses. An example of such a description is
the line that states “all frailties that besiege all kinds of blood.” Another typical literary approach
used in the poem is alliteration, which is the repetition of words with an identical consonant
sound. For instance, the words false and flame are used in lines one and two, respectively. Also
in line 10, the author uses besiege and blood, which are words with the same consonant sound.
Alliteration is employed to make Sonnet 109 sound pleasing while reading. The tone of Sonnet
109 is apologetic and reassuring.
Conceit:

This poem is an example of Eros love. It is passionate and intimate. The theme of this poem is
that his love for her is more valuable to him than anything in the universe. Though Shakespeare
has been away from his true love, his love for her has not weakened. He states that he can't
separate his feelings for her anymore than he can separate himself from himself. The universe
means nothing to him because she is his everything.

Structure:
This poem is a sonnet. The rhyme in this poem goes in ABAB order, with no repetition.

Style:
This poem has a passionate love tone to it. This poem uses imagery such as comparing himself
to a traveler who will always return home to her embrace. He also demonstrates that his love for
her is bigger than any financial possession. This is related to the conceit since he expresses his
love through visuals. His diction tells her that he is always faithful, despite the fact that he says it
by comparing himself to man, material things, and the universe.

Critique:
This poem was really enlightening for me. Throughout the poem, there was a strong sense of
love and passion. Even though this poetry was quite difficult to comprehend, I believe it was
pruned to perfection.
 In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 109, at first, I was under the impression that it was a sonnet
that reunited two lovers after one had been gone a while. However, upon closer reading and
analysis of the vocabulary, I have come to realize there is more to this sonnet than a happy love
story. The speaker proclaims his great affection for his love, saying that she is everything to him
and that no matter where he travels, she is his true home. However, the speaker does begin the
sonnet with the line, “O, never say that I was false of heart” (109.1), which leads the reader to
believe that the person he is speaking to may have accused him of some wrongdoing. This
seems to be confirmed later in the sonnet, when the speaker seems to admit to having strayed
in his affections during his time away. He seems to believe, though, that his infidelity should not
matter since his love for her outweighs everything else. So once my analysis was done, this
sonnet went from one about reuniting love to one about an apology and a seemingly confusing
proclamation of love, in which the girl is supposed to simply ignore the fact that he left her for
some time and that he strayed. It seems as though he is defending himself via flair and
emotional confessions of love in order to cover up wrongdoing. This interpretation would lead
me to perform these words with a more defensive tone, maybe being a little over-dramatic in
order to persuade my invisible lover to ignore my wrongdoing.

The rhyme scheme of this particular sonnet isn’t completely clear, making it slightly
difficult at times to memorize. Some of the lines also seem a bit choppy in regards to syllables,
which will probably entice me to speak slower to try to make sure everything comes out right.
This sonnet particularly also uses a lot of words where apostrophes replace syllables, to instruct
the speaker to pronounce the word a specific way. However, my interpretation of the speaker
leads me to believe that he is full of flair and is seemingly confident in his words, so in my
recitation I will attempt to replicate that same air of confidence to convince my audience that I
am sure of my words, just like the speaker must convince his lover.

To me, the main question to be raised in this sonnet would be the question of whether or
not the speaker is being truthful about his love. If he loved her so much, how could he have
gone away and been unfaithful? His powerful language seems to suggest his love is true, like
when he says, “For nothing this wide universe I call, -- Save thou, my rose; in it thou art my all”
(109.13-14). Lines like this seem to suggest that his love is true, but it may be hard for some
readers to find his intentions pure. If they had a relationship before he left, which he implies
when he says, “Though absence seem’d my flame to qualify” (109.2), why would he have been
unfaithful? If she is his whole world and his heart incarnate, would he really have strayed? His
argument is that it meant nothing so it should not matter, but that may not be enough. My
interpretation of this sonnet has led me to the conclusion that Shakespeare seems to be
showing the more fickle side of love, the side that is fleeting and is felt in the moment. The
saying “out of sight, out of mind” seems to express this message. People can feel anything in
one moment and then feel something completely different in the next. In this case, love is ever
changing and often confusing, but hopefully all ends with some sort of happiness.