Object

Data's Antique Sonnet Book

A small, well-thumbed antique volume of sonnets owned by Data (presented in the hearing as a gifted memento). Compact enough to travel with, showing light wear and bearing a bookmark marking a particular sonnet. The book is used as personal testimony in court (produced by Picard) and serves as a tangible emblem of Data's friendships and private attachments.

3 appearances

Purpose

To collect and preserve sonnets for private reading and reflection; functions as a personal literary memento within an individual's possessions.

Significance

Acts as a deeply personal artifact that exposes Data's interior life; the bookmarked sonnet becomes a narrative clue and provocation in Maddox's confrontation, converting a private keepsake into evidentiary and emotional leverage that crystallizes the stakes around Data's resignation and potential disassembly.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

3 moments

S2E9 · The Measure of a Man

Picard Turns the Courtroom into a Moral Crucible

Picard produces the small book of sonnets — a known gift from him to Data — and uses it to demonstrate reciprocal social bonds, friendship, and symbolic meaning that belie a mere 'machine' categorization.

Before: Contained in Data's travel case as a personal keepsake.

After: Held briefly by Picard during questioning, then remains on the table as part of the evidentiary display.

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S2E9 · The Measure of a Man

Cross-Examining Sentience

Picard produces the little book of sonnets, holding it as testimonial evidence; Data acknowledges it as a valued gift and a reminder of friendship, making literary intimacy into admissible moral evidence.

Before: Stored among Data's personal effects inside the travel case.

After: Held by Picard during questioning; presumably returned to Data after the hearing.

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S2E9 · The Measure of a Man

Judgment: Defining a Person

Picard produces the small book of sonnets, holding it up as a gift that symbolizes friendship and emotional exchange; the book operates rhetorically to show Data participates in cultural bonds not reducible to circuitry.

Before: In Picard's possession after being removed from the travel case.

After: Held in court as demonstrative evidence and then returned.

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