Hamle: it will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
whiles rank corruption, mining all within, infects unseen, confess yourself to heaven; repent what’s past; avoid what is to come; and do not spread the compost on the weeds to take them ranker.

what is the central motif in the passage?
*the passage of time
*madness
*disease and decay
*gardening

actually the correct answer is *disease and decay* i just took the test and got it right ; )

1.   in sonnet 18, the speaker wants to describe the beauty of his love, but can’t find the words to do so. the speaker says “then in mid-utterance the lay was lost” when he tries to think of the words to describe his love’s beauty.   through his defeat of finding words to describe his love, he shows his love for her.

2.   instead of describing how perfect his love is or comparing her to other beautiful things, he says she is average and there is nothing special about her.   at the last 2 lines of the poem, the volta changes the poem by saying that even though his love is average in beauty, his love for her is special and unique. so instead of praising her throughout the whole poem, he contrasts her average characteristics with his special love for her.

3.   the beloved asked the speaker to describe how he feels about her. she begins to describe what she feels but "drop the torch" and says that she can't do it because the words "hid in me out of reach." the the speaker says "nay, let the silence of my womanhood command my woman-love to thy belief" and that her silence will have to be the answer to his question.

yes its good if for a love riddle. and the answer is a heart.

hope this

-goldenwolfx

i think that the major difference is that it used to be modern