Shakespeares Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is part of a group of 126 sonnetsShakespeare wrote that are addressed to a young man of great beauty and promise. In this group of sonnets, the speaker urges the young man to marry and perpetuatehis virtues through children, and warns him about the destructive power of time,age, and moral weakness. Sonnet 18 focuses on the beauty of the young man, andhow beauty fades, but his beauty will not because it will be remembered by Shakespeare starts the poem with a metaphoric question in line one asking ifhe should compare the man to a summer's day. This asks if he should compare thebeauty of a summer's day to the beauty of the young man about whomShakespeare is writing. Line two of this poem states "Thou art more lovely andmore temperate." Temperate is used as a
This poem that Shakespeare wrote, in the octave, describes how all beautyfades except for the man about whom Shakespeare is writing. Lines thirteen and fourteen say that as long as this poem is read, the man'sbeauty will never go away, because every time someone reads the poem they willbe reminded of his beauty. Shakespeare uses "the eye of heaven" as a metaphor in this line to describe thesun. Line three, "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May," tellswhy the man's beauty is greater than that of a summer's day. Shakespeare makesuse of much symbolism and many other figurative devices in this poem thatcontribute and emphasize to the overall theme of the poem. In the sestet, the poem tells about how the man's beauty stays alive and out livesall other beauty. Line five states another imperfection of the summer. In lines seven and eight thespeaker ends the complication by describing how nature is never perfect. "Eternal summer" in line nine is referring back to the man's eternal beauty, usingsummer to symbolize beauty, and saying that the man's beauty will never fail likethe summer's beauty. This emphasizes the man's beauty and how the man is viewed bythe speaker. Line nine starts the resolution of the poem by using the conjunction "but". The octave alsotells of how great the man's beauty is compared to everything else that is beautiful. Inline two the speaker is describing the man as more lovely and more moderate thana summer's day.
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