Читать книгу English for Life Reader Grade 9 Home Language - Elaine Ridge - Страница 18

Pre-reading
1.	Soap operas give the impression that love is based on irresistible physical attraction. But that attraction is short term.
a)	What do you think is most important about love?
b)	Do you think love can last forever? What makes you say so?
During reading
2.	As you read, try to understand what the poem is saying about love.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments, love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come,

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom:

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ nor no man ever loved.

bark – boat or ship

bears it out – remains true

compass – range – rosy lips and cheeks are affected by time

edge of doom – up to the end of the world

height be taken – the position of the star in the sky is measured using instruments

impediments – things that stand in the way

star – even today, sailors sometimes use the position of particular stars to guide them

worth’s unknown – love’s value cannot be measured

writ – wrote

Post-reading
3.	The title of the poem, the first line and a half, says ‘true minds’, faithful hearts or real love, do not allow anything to stand in their way. The poet seems to be arguing something. What is the statement made in the first verse that forms the basis of the argument?
4.	In verse two, what is the ‘it’ referred to?
5.	In verse two, what is the ‘it’ being compared to in the metaphor used that says ‘it’ is something else? Focus on the words that describe something else, the ‘tempests’, ‘star’ and ‘bark’ to understand.
6.	What is the poet saying by this comparison?
7.	What are the ‘alterations’ that love finds and what causes these? (See verse 3.)
8.	How is time personified (made to seem human) in the third verse?
9.	Look at the last two lines, the couplet. How does the poet sum up his argument and prove himself right?
10.	Think of older couples you know, your grandparents, for example. Have you seen photos of them when they were young? How have they changed? Do they still love each despite these changes? Can you apply what Shakespeare says in the poem to them? Talk about this with a friend.