Response Paper (5 extra-credit points): Choose one of the sonneteers assigned in the reading for class today.  Write a brief, informal paper in which you discuss the characteristics of the sonnets of the poet you've chosen.  How does the poet use and develop the sonnet form?  What is unique about his sonnets?  Look at form (rhyme, divisions, volta, etc.), tone, style (syntax, vocabulary, etc.), and content.  What characterizes the poet's work as unique in relation to the other sonneteers?  (To do this efficiently, you may want to focus in on one or two representative sonnets by your writer and look at it/them in detail in your paper.)

NOTE ON RESPONSE PAPERS: Response papers are ungraded, extra-credit assignments.  I ask you to type them (so that they are easier to read), but they need not be a perfect, polished product.  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says -- a response.  Think about the question(s) that I ask you to consider; then, write a response.  Don't worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Don't worry about answering every question I ask in the assignment.  Just be as specific as you can and get down as much as you can as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more as a journal entry than as a formal paper.  I don't want a thesis or five-paragraph theme.  Rather, I want an exploration -- as detailed and specific as possible.  As long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you turn it in on time in the class assigned), you will receive all the points that the assignment is worth.  Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and organization have no effect on the number of points you receive.  (NOTE: If you choose not to submit a response paper for extra credit, you should still come to class prepared to discuss the questions assigned, since we will focus on those questions in our discussion of the reading assignment.)