5 Ways to Teach Shakespeare’s Sonnets

By Folger Education

In February, when the Folger launched its exciting new website, we posted our first set of revamped teaching modules, which include assessment ideas, writing prompts and technology tools (where appropriate), and connections to the Common Core Anchor Standards for English. Just this week, we posted another round of great teaching modules: this time, on Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Folger Edition (Image: Folger Library)

If you’re thinking about teaching the sonnets next school year—or maybe even this summer—check out these lessons below, which spring from the work of Dr. Louisa Newlin and Gigi Bradford with the Folger’s “Shakespeare’s Sisters” program, a semester-long seminar on poetry for local high school students. Try these out with your students and let us know how they go!

1. Easing into Shakespeare with a Modern Sonnet
2. Petrarch, Father of the Sonnet
3. Close Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets
4. The English Sonnet: Michael Drayton
5. Sonnet Performances: Shakespeare’s Sonnets as Scripts