Courtly love, entailing only loving someone of the right status, was shallow but held financial stability, power and fame, erotic love was physically and aesthetically pleasing but it's passion decayed with time. Romantic love was, and still is, the only immortal love as lovers loved the person, not their appearance or status of which either could decay.
             William Meader (Courtship in Shakespeare) states that recognition of courtly "love is possible only after the two lovers have fulfilled certain requirements as to age, rank and attitude"(4). This was so the lovers were ranked high enough to allow the intricate details of courtship to be carried out. One may be of higher rank, but both needed to be above working class, although the very rich could fall in love with someone of lower rank as they recognise rank is not the only cause of love. Although Meader quotes "it is not proper to love any woman whom one would be ashamed to marry."(5) he finds that beauty is a cause for love but requires good character for fulfilment. Shakespeare's loves are for all time, faithful to only one lover, even after death.
             Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 displays Petrarchan style which is to praise and immortalise his beloved. He poses "Shall I compare thee to a summers day? (1). In comparing he denies summer it's beauty saying that his lover is "more lovely and more temperate" (2). He argues that the wind shakes the beauty of the season and that summer doesn't last for very long unlike the enduring beauty of his lover. Summer can be hard to endure when it is too hot and summers beauty will fade when the seasons change to Autumn and winter. He asserts that his lovers beauty will not die or fade. Because of the failings and instability of summer he finds that his lover has none of these faults and that summer could not compare with the beauty of his lover.
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