Shakespeare Sonnet 18
"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?"William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and playwright, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists, is perhaps the most famous writer in the history of English literature. By writing plays, Shakespeare earned recognition from his late 16th and early 17th century contemporaries, but he may have looked to poetry for enduring fame. His poetic achievements include a series of 154 sonnets. Many of the sonnets he wrote contain lines as well known as any in his plays. One of the perennial themes of Western literature-the brevity of life-is given poignantly personal and highly original expression in many of these poems. Shakespeare's sonnets are arranged with three quatrains (4 lines) and a couplet (2 lines). This development was sufficiently original for the form to become known as the Shakespearean sonnet, which employs a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. The poet is challenged to express his profound emotions and thoughts on life, death, war, and history in the condensed fourteen lines. Sonnet 18 comes from The Sonnets of Shakespeare printed
The summer's sun dims, but the life and beauty of his beloved will be eternal. The reasons for his adoration are given in the next four lines, which describe the less pleasant aspects of summer: The wind impairs the beauty of summer, and summer is too brief. But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. The poet employs the step-by- step arguments, to reach the conclusion: poetry is immortal and makes beauty immortal. Because of the eternal lines of the poem, the life and beauty of his beloved will thrive and flourish. In line twelve the "eternal lines to time" not only refers to lines of poetry but also implies lines of shape, the shape of beauty. Line ten and eleven give an answer in comparison with line six and seven: The summer's fair declines, but the fairness of his beloved will be everlasting. "Shakespeare begins the poem with a question that proposes a comparison between his beloved and a summer season. The splendor of summer is affected by the intensity of the sunlight, and as the season changes, summer becomes less beautiful. Summer is chosen because it is the loveliest and the most pleasant season due to England's cold weather. The poem finishes with a triumphant couplet, which explains and summarizes the theme: poetry gives timeless life to beauty. in 1609: "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. In the second line the comparison embarks to favor his beloved: his beloved is more beautiful and less extreme than summer. Summer has by now become the summer of life and beauty. In the next three lines the poet's assurance becomes even firmer with promises that his beloved will neither become less beautiful nor even die, because she is immortalized through his poetry.
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