SHALL I

COMPARE THEE
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee..

Poem Analysis
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
May I compare you to a summers day? You are more
lovely and more evenly tempered. (Just right) Perfect ..
Shakespeare wants to compare his partner to a lovely
English summers day. (remember summers days in
England are generally not as hot as in Africa. The
temperatures are perfect and the season lasts only
about 3 to 4 months.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
◦ Shakespeare starts highlighting the flaws in the English summer
even after stating how perfect it is in line 1 and 2.
◦ The English spring is in May. During this time flowers are budding.
◦ Rough winds do sometimes blow and the flower buds on the trees
are shaken violently.
◦ He also states that the season is way too short. “Lease” refers to
time.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d
Sometimes the sun (eye of heaven) is too hot.
And at other times the gold complexion of the sun is hidden behind
the clouds. (The sun does not shine so brightly).
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
by chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d:
◦ Every beautiful thing sometime loses its beauty, either by chance
(accident) or nature’s changing course untrimm’d (natural course of
events in nature). Like ageing.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
◦ Here is a change in the poem. Shakespeare shifts his attention from
nature to his partner.
◦ You will be in the summer of your life forever, additionally you
will also not lose possession of that
◦ beauty that you currently possess.
Nor shall death brag though wandr’st in his
shade,
◦ Death is personified here. It is seen in the form of a person.
◦ Death will not be able to brag that it has claimed another victim.
You will never have to walk in Death’s shadow i.e. die.
When in eternal lines to time though grow’st,

◦ From here on, Shakespeare is explaining why he/she will live

forever.
◦ You will grow in eternal lines to time (you will keep living forever,
in the same way time moves forward, so will you).
So long as men can breathe and eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
◦ For as long as people will be on the planet, so long will this poem
be read and it will give life to you.

This poem will ensure that she lives

forever as long as it is being read.
◦ 1)How does Shakespeare compare the beauty of his friend to that of a summer’s
day? [6] [H.S. = 2016]
◦ 2)What do the rough winds do? What does the poet mean by ‘summer’s lease’?
How is the friend’s beauty superior to the summer’s day? [1+1+4 = 6]
◦ 3) ‘And every fair from fair sometime declines.’ – From which poem is the line
quoted? Who is the poet? Briefly explain the meaning of the quoted line. How does
the poet promise to immortalize his friend’s beauty? [1+1+2+2 =6]
◦ 4) ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade.’ – Who is being referred to as ‘thy’?
What is meant by ‘eternal summer’? Why shall not ‘thy eternal summer’ fade?
[1+1+4 = 6]
◦ 5) ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade.’ – Who is the poet? What is
meant by ‘eternal summer’? How does the poet suggest that ‘thy
eternal summer’ shall never end? [1+1+4 = 6]
◦ 6) ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that
fair thou ow’st.’ – Whose ‘eternal summer’ is being referred to here?
What does ‘eternal summer’ mean? What conclusion does the poet
draw at the end of his poem? [1+2+3 = 6]
◦ 7) “So long lives this, and this gives life to you.” – What does ‘this’
refer to here? Whom does ‘this’ give life to? How does the poet think
that ‘this’ will give life to ‘thee’? [1+1+4 = 6]
1)How does Shakespeare compare the beauty of his friend to that of a
summer’s day? [6] [H.S. = 2016]
Ans. William Shakespeare begins the poem with a question – ‘Shall I
compare thee to a summer’s day?’ But the poet declines the idea as he
believes that his friend is more lovely and more restrained than summer’s
day. The summer has its drawback. It is not permanent. The violent winds
destroy beautiful flowers. The duration of summer is too short a date.
Sometimes the sun is too hot and sometimes its gold complexion is dimmed
by clouds. In this way, the poet excels at his friend’s beauty comparing to
that of a summer’s day.
◦ 2)What do the rough winds do? What does the poet mean by
‘summer’s lease’? How is the friend’s beauty superior to the summer’s
day? [1+1+4 = 6] [H.S. =2020]
◦ Ans. The rough winds shake the darling buds.
◦ By ‘summer’s lease’, the poet William Shakespeare means the duration of
summer which is short in period.
◦ The poet believes that his dear friend is more lovely and more temperate
than the summer’s day. The violent winds destroy the beautiful buds. The
duration of summer is too short a date. Sometimes the sun is too hot and
sometimes it is covered by clouds. So, summer days have many
disadvantages. It is inconsistent and impermanent while his friend’s beauty
is everlasting.
◦ 3) ‘And every fair from fair sometime declines.’ – From which poem is the line
quoted? Who is the poet? Briefly explain the meaning of the quoted line. How does
the poet promise to immortalize his friend’s beauty? [1+1+2+2 =6] [H.S. = 2018,
2022]
◦ Ans. The line is quoted from the poem, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’,
Sonnet No. 18.
◦ The poet is William Shakespeare.
◦ The poet wants to say that nothing is permanent. Even the most beautiful objects of
nature would be destroyed by nature’s changing course.
◦ The poet is very much confident that his friend’s eternal summer shall not fade. The
eternal lines in the sonnet will make his friend’s glory everlasting. The poet predicts that
so long men will live on this earth, the sonnet would give life to him.
◦ 4) ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade.’ – Who is being referred to as ‘thy’?
What is meant by ‘eternal summer’? Why shall not ‘thy eternal summer’
fade? [1+1+4 = 6] [H.S. =2019]
◦ Ans. The friend of the poet William Shakespeare is referred to as ‘thy’?
◦ The everlasting youthfulness and beauty of his friend is meant by ‘eternal
summer’.
◦ Every beautiful object of nature is subjected to degeneration. But the poet is very
much confident that the eternal summer of his friend is everlasting. Death will
never grab his beloved or will fade his glory. The eternal lines composed by the
poet will preserve his friend’s beauty everlasting. The poet predicted that his sonnet
would be acclaimed forever so long men would live on this earth. In this way, his
poem would be read and his beloved would be alive
◦ 5) ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade.’ – Who is the poet? What is meant by
‘eternal summer’? How does the poet suggest that ‘thy eternal summer’ shall never
end? [1+1+4 = 6] [H.S. = 2015]
◦ Ans. See the answer to question No. 4
◦ 6) ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou
ow’st.’ – Whose ‘eternal summer’ is being referred to here? What does ‘eternal
summer’ mean? What conclusion does the poet draw at the end of his poem? [1+2+3
= 6] [H. S. = 2017]
◦ Ans. ‘Eternal summer’ of Shakespeare’s friend is being referred to here.
◦ ‘Eternal summer’ means the everlasting beauty and youthfulness of the poet’s friend.
◦ The ending of the poem is optimistic. The poet wants to preserve his friend’s beauty by
going against nature’s changing course. The poet makes a prediction that the eternal lines
composed by him would glorify his friend forever so long men would live on this earth.
◦ 7) “So long lives this, and this gives life to you.” – What does ‘this’ refer to here?
Whom does ‘this’ give life to? How does the poet think that ‘this’ will give life to
‘thee’? [1+1+4 = 6] [H.S. = 2022]
◦ Ans. ‘This’ refers to the sonnet written by William Shakespeare.
◦ ‘This’ gives life to the poet’s friend, Mr H.W. (who may be Henry Wriothesly or
William Herbert)
◦ The poet was aware of the fact that no human being will live forever. By the passage of
time, everyone has to die. But the poet had a strong belief in his immortal lines that
they will defeat the relentless time. So long men would live on this earth, the poem
would be read. And in this way, his friend’s worthiness and beauty would be celebrated
throughout the ages.