Poem #3: "Sonnet 18"

The Poem: "Sonnest 18"

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 dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaboration, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, two epitaphs on a man named John Combe, one epitaph on Elias James, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

   Sonnet 18 is one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. It is a sonnet dedicated to comparing a person that he loves to summer. As I read this sonnet, I was able to clearly comprehend what the meaning of the sonnet was.  I think that Shakespeare is trying to say that though she grows older and older, her beauty doesn’t change.

     The first example is from line 4 and 7.  I think that line four means that summer is too short. “Summer’s lease” mean summer’s span and “All too short a date” means too short. Line seven is saying that something that is beautiful can lose its beauty. What he means is that beauty from beauty sometimes declines. He is trying to say that the summer is too short and it loses its beauty.

     The other example is in lines 9 and 10. In line nine he is trying to say that her beauty will not be changed. You can tell by the word untrimmed. He is talking about her natural beauty will not be changed. Line ten is saying that she won’t lose her beauty. He uses the word summer to represent beauty, so he is saying that her beauty will last forever. He is saying that, unlike the summer, her beauty is eternal and will not fade away.

     This sonnet deserves to be his most memorable sonnet. I think Shakespeare wrote a wonderful sonnet that really shows his feelings towards this person. It may be write in old English, but the message is clear. The sonnet is not just trying to say that the person’s beauty will never fade; he is also trying to tell her that her beauty is a gift.

TP-CASTT

TITLE
Not much different.

PARAPHRASE

You’re as beautiful as a summer day.

You’re better than the perfect summer day.

Life was bad before you came into my life,

If only summer were longer.

The heat of  summer sucks, but you don’t.

The sun loses its light everyday.

Beauty fades in everything.

Things naturally lose their beauty. It can’t be helped.

She will never lose her beauty.

She will never lose her inner beauty.

Death cannot even tame your beauty.

This sonnet will last forever:

As long as there are men on this planet,

Your beauty will live on forever in this poem.

CONNOTATION
Beautiful, loving, romantic. When Shakespeare says, “Thou art more lovely and more temperate,” he is saying that she is more beautiful than the perfect summer day. This is loving and beautiful and romantic.

ATTITUDE

Peaceful, enchanted, admiring, loving,

Words like eternal summer give an ethereal feeling. His tone is summed up in the last two lines of the poem. He loves his subject.

SHIFT

1st stanza – she is as beautiful as a summer day.

2nd stanza – summer is not always perfect (“Sometimes” indicates the shift, as does the new stanza)

3rd stanza – her beauty will live on forever (“BUT” indicates the shift)

Rhyming couplet: This poem will keep your beauty alive. (“So” indicates shift change, as does the separation of the couplet from the rest of the poem.)

TITLE

Not much different.

THEME

Beauty never fades

APA-6 REFERNCE

Shakespeare. W. (1609). Sonnet 18. Website. Retrieved from