• What is sonnet III saying about sin and repent? (lines 5-12)—AR

• Is there healing found in suffering? (V)—BF

• In stanza VI he states that his body is earth-born (l. 10), does this mean that his soul is earth-born as well or does it come from some other place?—AW

• Sonnet number VII, as with many of the sonnets, seems to be a prayer for forgiveness to God (lines 9-10).—WF

• In poem X, how can Donne’s ideas about death be compared to those of Gilgamesh?—PW

• What’s the relationship between sex and religious enlightenment in the poems? (IX line 4, XIV line 13, etc)—PY

• Why the author shows such an desire for being punished? (XI 1, 2, XIV 11, 12, 13)—PY

• Sonnet XI—KH

• What do you think is meant by the passage “To wicked spirits are horrid shapes assign’d,/This beauteous forme assures a pitious minde”? (XIII, ll. 13-14)—JC

• Sonnet IX Lines 1-5: Should multiple people have to suffer for the wrong ways of only one?—DM

• In sonnet IX, lines 1-5, do you think the author is being sarcastic?—SM

• In Sonnet XVII, what are your thoughts on Donne’s immense conflict with his love of God and his deceased wife? It seems his self is conflicted with these two loves and the constant mention of the Devil possessing his tongue seems to incline towards a split self.—EA

• The effect of the rhyming couplets/triplets (e.g., VII, ll. 1-4, 13-14).—WF

• Sonnet XVI: This is one example, I believe Donne using rhyming in the more positive sonnets—AR

• All of the stanzas have 14 lines but why don’t all of them have the same rhyme scheme?—AW

• Why do the rhyme schemes differ from poem to poem? Do different rhyme schemes give a sonnet different meanings and emphasis?—DM

• English Sonnets are divided into 3 groups of 4 lines and then a rhyming couplet at the end, do you feel this form aids in organizing a brief story in the mere 14 lines?—EA

• Do you think the rhythmic pattern the author uses (e.g., I and II) enhances the text or is it pointless?—JC

• Why is enjambment used so frequently? (V)—BF

• Why are there double letters in words that normally don’t have them?—KH

• Why would the author use questions so often? (II 9,10; IX 4, 6, 8, 9; XII 1, 4, 5, 8; XVIII 4, 5, 6, 8, 10)—PY

• Why does he subject death to death? In other words why does Donne personify death as a mortal being? (X, l. 14)—PW

• In sonnet XI, line 13, the author uses the word “cloth’d.” Do you think this word is strong enough in regards to God becoming man?—SM