“Sonnet 18”

(Stressed and unstressed syllables marked)

Shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer's DAY?

THOU art MORE loveLY and MORE temPERate:
ROUGH winds DO shake THE darLING buds OF May,
And SUMmer's LEASE hath ALL too SHORT a DATE:
SomeTIME too HOT the EYE of HEAVen SHINES,
And OFTen IS his GOLD comPLEXion DIMMED,
And EVery FAIR from FAIR someTIME deCLINES,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 18: Annotation:

Please note: N= noun, V=verb, Adj=Adjective, Adv=Adverb, P=Preposition, Pr=Pronoun
Thee (Pr): An older form of the word “you.”
Thou (Pr): An older form of the word “you.”
Art (V): An older form of the word “are.”
Temperate (Adj): Relating to or denoting a region or climate characterized by mild temperatures
Rough (Adj): (Of weather or the sea) wild and Stormy
Buds (N): Plural form of the word “bud,” that is, a compact knob-like growth on a plant that develops into a leaf,
flower, or shoots
Lease (N): A contract by which one party conveys land, property, services, etc., to another for a specified time,
usually in return for a periodic payment
Hath (V): An older form of the word “has.”
Complexion (N): The natural color, texture, and appearance of a person’s skin, especially of the face
Dimmed (V): Past participle form of the word “dim,” that is, make or become less bright or distinct.
Fair (Adj): Beautiful
Declines (V): Third person present tense of the word “decline,” that is, (typically of something regarded as good) to
become smaller, fewer, or less; decrease.
Course (N): The way in which something progresses or develops
Untrimmed (Adj): Not having been trimmed or cutaway
Thy (Pr): An older form of the word “your.”
Eternal (Adj): Lasting or existing forever; without end
Fade (V): Gradually grow faint and disappear
Possession (N): The state of having, owning, or controlling something
Ow’st (V): Short form of the word “owest,” which is, in turn, an older form of the word “owe.”
Brag (V): Say something in a boastful manner
Wand’rest (V): Short form of the word “wanderest,” which is, in turn, an older form of the word “wander.”
Grow’st (V): Short form of the word “growest,” which is, in turn, an older form of the word “grow.”
“Sonnet 18” at a Glance

Poem “Sonnet 18”

Author William Shakespeare
Publication
1609
date
Structure English or Shakespearean sonnet
Meter Iambic pentameter
Rhyme
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
scheme
The subject of the poem is compared to summer, revealed to be constant
Theme
and fair, and immortalized by the words of the sonnet.
Mood Admiring
Imagery Visual, tactile
Literary
Metaphor, imagery, personification, hyperbole, repetition
devices
Overall The beauty of an individual is more constant than the summer weather and
meaning can even remain in death when immortalized in writing.

About:

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? attempts to justify the speaker’s beloved’s beauty by comparing it to
a summer’s day and comes to the conclusion that his beloved is better after listing some of the summer’s
negative qualities. While summer is short and occasionally too hot, his beloved has an everlasting beauty, and
that will never be uncomfortable to gaze upon. This also riffs – as Sonnet 130 does – on the romantic poetry of
the age, the attempt to compare a beloved to something greater than them. Although in Sonnet 130,
Shakespeare is mocking the over-flowery language, in Sonnet 18, Shakespeare’s simplicity of imagery shows
that that is not the case. The beloved’s beauty can coexist with summer and indeed be more pleasant, but it is
not a replacement for it.

***Definition of the word for clarification:

1. Beloved = It’s an adjective. It means ‘dearly loved.’
Example: His beloved son.

Analytical points:

1. One element of 'Sonnet 18' that's sometimes overlooked in traditional interpretations is Shakespeare's
interest in sharing the power of the written word.
2. The world is constantly changing, and he chooses to immortalize his beloved's beauty in the poem. By
doing so, he's making a statement about the impact of poetry. The written word is permanent in a way
that life and beauty are not.
Historical Background

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon to an alderman and glover. He is widely
regarded as the greatest English writer of all time and wrote 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and 38
plays, though recently, another play has been found and attributed to William Shakespeare. Although much is
known about his life, scholars are still uncertain as to whether or not Shakespeare actually authored his works,
and convincing arguments exist on both sides.

He died on his 52nd birthday after signing a will that declared that he was in ‘perfect health.’ Theories about
his death include that he drank too much at a meeting with Ben Jonson, and Drayton, contemporaries of his,
contracted a fever and died.

His work remains a lasting source of wonder to many filmmakers, writers, and scholars and has been recreated
in other media – most noticeably Baz Luhrmann’ 2004 Romeo + Juliet. William Shakespeare’s work also has
worldwide appeal and has been recreated for Japanese audiences in films such as Throne of Blood, which is
based on Macbeth, though Throne of Blood eschews all the poetry and focuses simply on the story.

Line explanations:

Lines 1-4

The sonnet begins with the famous rhetorical question, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”, which
addresses the subject of the poem as if they are present. Immediately, the poetic voice responds by
stating, “Thou art more lovely and more temperate” (line 4). The voice criticizes the summer for being too
windy and too short.
Lines 5-8

Summer is not as lovely as the subject of the poem because the sun is sometimes too hot, sometimes too dim.
In nature, everything beautiful declines, as is nature’s course, because it is always changing.

Lines 9-12

The turn, or Volta, of the poem occurs in this response to the initial question. The poetic voice changes topic
to the subject of the poem, saying, “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” (line 9) and, unlike the summer,
will “not lose possession of that fair thou ow’st” (line 10). The qualities of the subject are so constant that not
even death can take them away.

In a poem, the turn, or Volta, is a shift in ideas, emotions, or tone. In this and many other English sonnets, the
turn typically happens at the beginning of the third quatrain.

The Literary Devices of “Sonnet 18”:

“Sonnet 18” contains several literary and poetic devices that make it effective and memorable. These devices
enhance the overall meaning of the poem by adding depth, interest, and a connection with the reader.

Shakespeare uses metaphor in “Sonnet 18” as the basis of the poem. The opening question compares the
subject of the poem to a day in summer.
A metaphor is a direct comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using the
words “like” or “as.”
Imagery in “Sonnet 18”

Shakespeare uses imagery in “Sonnet 18” to appeal to the reader’s senses and add dimension to the poem.
Imagery is a detailed description that appeals to any of our five senses. For instance, visual imagery is any
description that appeals to the sense of sight, while tactile imagery is any description that appeals to the sense
of touch.

Shakespeare uses personification to make the comparison between a human being and a day in summer more
relatable.
Personification is the act of describing non-human things with human characteristics.
Hyperbole in “Sonnet 18”
Shakespeare uses hyperbole in the poem to show emphasis.

Hyperbole is a form of figurative language that uses exaggeration to make a strong point.
An example of hyperbole can be seen in line 5, as the subject of the poem has an “eternal summer” that
will “never fade” (line 9). The hyperbolic statement helps strengthen the idea that the subject of the poem is
constant and much more predictable and, therefore, more beautiful than summer.

Alliteration: "Sonnet 18" contains a number of instances of alliteration. These plays of sound bind together
Shakespeare's lines: for example, the repeated sh sound in "shall" "shade" in line 11. Shakespeare's
alliterations often reinforce the content of the poem. For example, in line 8 the connected sounds of "chance "
and "changing" underscore the impermanence of the natural world. And in line 14, "lives" and "life" underline
the connection between the eternal life of the poem and the young man's eternal life.

Repetition in “Sonnet 18”

Shakespeare uses repetition in “Sonnet 18” for emphasis and to provide a strong conclusion.
Repetition is a writing convention that repeats the same words, phrases, or sentences to add emphasis or
structure to a piece.

The concluding couplet in “Sonnet 18” repeats “So long as” to emphasize that the subject will remain constant
as long as the poem exists. The repetition also creates a parallel structure, emphasizing that both ideas are
equally important.

Symbols:

Seasons: Seasons are units that divide up the year. In Western culture, the seasons unfold like a story: birth
followed by maturity, maturity followed by decay and death. As such, the seasons are often used in poetry as
metaphors for the progress of a human life from youth to old age. And, in a Christian context, the return of
spring after the winter often serves to represent the possibility of resurrection.
"Sonnet 18" references this tradition at several key points in the poem. The poem opens by asking whether
the speaker should compare the young man to a "summer's day." In line three, he refuses, implicitly, to
compare the young man to the "darling buds of May." In line five, he returns to summer as a symbol—and
again refuses it, this time on the grounds that summer doesn't last long enough to represent the young man's
"eternal summer."
The poem thus has a strained relationship with the tradition of using the seasons as a symbol for human life. It
invokes that tradition only to refuse it. Because the symbol implies narrative—change, transformation, aging,
decay—the speaker finds it inappropriate for his purposes. This raises interesting interpretative questions: one
might wonder, for instance, if the poem also rejects a Christian model of resurrection (which requires death)
in favor of its own, poetic form of eternal life.

Sun: In Renaissance love poetry, the sun is often used as a symbol for physical or personal beauty. Because the
sun is the source of all light—and life—comparing someone or something to the sun suggests that they are
unusually, even exceptionally beautiful. Further because "sun" sounds a lot like "son" (in Renaissance English,
the two words were regularly spelled in the same way), the sun often becomes a symbol of Christianity (in
reference to the fact that Jesus is the son of God).
In "Sonnet 18," the speaker considers comparing the young man to the sun, but rejects the comparison, noting
that the sun's beauty is often dimmed by clouds. (In other sonnets, the speaker does compare the young man
to the sun—precisely because the sun's beauty is variable. See Sonnet 33, for example, where he refers to the
young man as "my sun" and then complains, "he was but one hour mine, / The region cloud hath masked him
from me now"). To reject this metaphor—to say that the young man is more beautiful than the sun because
his beauty is more eternal—raises questions about the poem's relationship to Christianity. The speaker might
suggest here that the young man's beauty and importance rival that of the divinity.

Themes:

The mutability of nature: The poet begins this sonnet by asking whether he should compare his beloved to a
summer’s day but does not wait for an answer. This is because he knows that his beloved’s beauty is
unchanging and timeless, whereas nature can be both beautiful and terrifying, and that the change from one
state to the other can occur at any point in Time. One day the sun’s light can illuminate and invigorate the
earth, while the next; this light may fade away completely, filling the sky with clouds and the possibility of
precipitation. Both of these faces of nature are described aptly by the poet here.

Aging is a natural process: While the poet clearly expresses his desire to immortalize the beauty of his
beloved, he does not deny that she will age with Time. The poet knows that the course of nature cannot be
stopped and that Time is a natural progression. Hence, the ravages that Time commits on the human race are
also inescapable. Therefore, he cannot stop his beloved from growing old or her physical body from decaying.
However, one death or two does not mean that the entire human species will come to an end. Man will live
on, and so will art. That is precisely why the poet chooses to immortalize his beloved through the medium of
poetry.

Self-reflexivity: Self-reflexivity is the process by which an artist refers to his own art. That is exactly what the
poet does in the last line of this sonnet by referring to his poem as “this.” He is intensely aware of the value
that his own poetry can accord to something. He knows that his poetry can, in fact, make his beloved
immortal. This kind of self-awareness is a sign of reflexivity, and it is very rare in works dating back prior to the
21st century. Hence this shows how modern Shakespeare was as a writer and how he has influenced all later
generations of writers as well.

Tone:
The tone of this poem vacillates between pessimism and optimism. On the one hand, the poet talks about
how nothing is permanent – how the weather changes, how the earth goes through various seasons one after
the other, and how the human body must age and die. On the other hand, the poet also asserts the
immortality of art. Art is, for Shakespeare, eternal. He knows that long after he is gone, his poetry will
continue to be read and appreciated.
Sonnet 18 is one of the best-known sonnets of Shakespeare. This is because it upholds many of the themes
that are found in his other sonnets as well – the changing course of nature, the brevity of human life, and the
permanence of great art. These themes are even echoed in the best-known of his plays. These themes make
Shakespeare the great writer he is, for these themes are relatable to all his readers.

Conclusion/Detailed Analysis:

The poem opens with the speaker putting forward a simple question: can he compare his lover to a summer’s
day? Historically, the theme of summertime has always been used to evoke a certain amount of beauty,
particularly in poetry. Summer has always been seen as the respite from the long, bitter winter, a growing
period where the earth flourishes itself with flowers and with animals once more. Thus, to compare his lover
to a summer’s day, the speaker considers their beloved to be tantamount to a rebirth and even better than
summer itself. As summer is occasionally short, too hot, and rough, summer is, in fact, not the height of
beauty for this particular speaker. Instead, he attributes that quality to his beloved, whose beauty will never
fade, even when ‘death brag thou waander’stin his shade‘, as he will immortalize his lover’s beauty in
his verse.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

The immortality of love and beauty through poetry provides the speaker with his beloved’s eternal summer.
Though they might die and be lost to time, the poem will survive, will be spoken of, and will live on when they
do not. Thus, through the words, his beloved’s beauty will also live on.

In terms of imagery, there is not much that one can say about it. William Shakespeare’s sonnets thrive on
simplicity of imagery, the polar opposite of his plays, whose imagery can sometimes be packed with meaning.
Here, in this particular sonnet, the feeling of summer is evoked through references to the ‘darling buds’ of
May and through the description of the sun as golden-complexioned.

It is almost ironic that we are not given a description of the lover in particular. In fact, scholars have argued
that, as a love poem, the vagueness of the beloved’s description leads them to believe that it is not a love
poem written to a person but a love poem about itself, a love poem about love poetry, which shall live on with
the excuse of being a love poem.

The final two lines seem to corroborate this view as they move away from the description of the lover to point
out the longevity of his own poem. As long as men can read and breathe, his poem shall live on, and his lover,
too, will live on because he is the subject of this poem.
However, opinions are divided on this topic.

Shakespeare’s sonnets are all written in iambic pentameter – an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable, with five of these in each line – with a rhyming couplet at the end.