Sonnet 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
ow ’ st ,
Nor shall death brag thou wander ’ st
• Shall I compare thee to a
summer's day?
    This is taken usually to mean

'What if I were to compare thee

etc?' The stock comparisons of
the loved one to all the
beauteous things in nature hover
in the background throughout .
•
• Thou art more lovely and more
temperate :
 
The youth's beauty is more
perfect than the beauty of a
summer day . more temperate -
more gentle , more restrained ,
whereas the summer's day might
have violent excesses in store ,
such as are about to be
described .
• Rough winds do shake the darling
buds of May ,  


May was a summer month in

Shakespeare's time , because the
calendar in use lagged behind
the true sidereal calendar by at
least a fortnight .
darling buds of May - the
beautiful , much loved buds of
the early summer ; favourite
flowers .
• And summer's lease hath all too
short a date :    
 Legal terminology . The summer
holds a lease on part of the
year , but the lease is too short ,
and has an early termination
( date ).
• Sometime too hot the eye of heaven
shines ,
 Sometime = on occasion ,
sometimes ;
the eye of heaven = the sun .  
 > And often is his gold
complexion dimmed ,  
 his gold complexion = his ( the
sun's ) golden face . It would be
dimmed by clouds and on overcast
days generally .
> A nd every fair from fair sometime

declines ,
All beautiful things ( every fair )
occasionally become inferior in
comparison with their essential
previous state of beauty ( from
fair ). They all decline from
• By chance , or nature's changing
course untrimmed :
 By chance accidents , or by the
fluctuating tides of nature , which
are not subject to control ,
nature's changing course untrimmed .
untrimmed - this can refer to the
ballast ( trimming ) on a ship which
keeps it stable ; or to a lack of
ornament and decoration . The
greater difficulty however is to
decide which noun this adjectival
participle should modify .
  > But thy eternal summer shall
not fade ,
    Referring forwards to the
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou
ow'st ,    
 Nor shall it ( your eternal summer )
lose its hold on that beauty which you so
richly possess . ow'st = ownest , possess .
By metonymy we understand 'nor shall you
lose any of your beauty' .


 
> Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in

his shade ,


 Several half echoes here . The biblical

ones are probably ' Oh death where is thy
sting? Or grave thy victory ?' implying
that death normally boasts of his
conquests over life .
• When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st ,

 in eternal lines = in the undying lines of my
verse . Perhaps with a reference to progeny , and
lines of descent , but it seems that the procreation
theme has already been abandoned .
to time thou grow'st - you keep pace with time , you
grow as time grows .  


Ø So long as men can breathe , or eyes can see ,  

 For as long as humans live and breathe upon the
earth , for as long as there are seeing eyes on the
eart .

  > So long lives this , and this gives life to thee .
 That is how long these verses will live ,
celebrating you , and continually renewing your life .
But one is left with a slight residual feeling that
perhaps the youth's beauty will last no longer than
a summer's day , despite the poet's proud boast .
THEME
• LOVE
 Sonnet 18 opens up looking an
awful lot like a traditional
love poem , but by the end it ’ s
pretty clear that the poet is
much more into himself and the
poetry he produces than the
beloved he ’ s addressing . In fact ,
at times it seems like he might
actually harbor some resentment
toward the beloved . So if it is
a love poem , it ’ s to the poet .
•
Tone Of The Poem
The tone of the poem refers to the feelings , attitudes ,
perceptions and experiences of the persona . It also
relates to the mood of the persona ( angry , sad , upset ,
disappointed , regretful , sarcastic , etc ). These feelings ,
attitudes and perceptions are expressed either directly
or indirectly .

In “ Sonnet 18 ”, the persona compares two elements of

nature : the season and a human being . The persona feels
deep admiration for his beloved and brings out his
love ’ s good qualities and compares these qualities with
the qualities nature ( summer ) possesses . He is in high -
spirits and he has a positive outlook on life . He
believes his beloved is an eternal beauty and faces no
death , as she is immortal through the poem . The persona
is hopeful , happy and forward - looking .    

However , the poet is cynical of summer when he says :

       “ 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 sometimes declines ,”
LANGUAGE
Poets use language to make the presentation of
the poem more interesting . They use language to
engage the readers ’ senses and imagination .
Poets use different styles to express their
ideas , feelings , and experiences .

Style refers to the unique features of a piece

of poem which differs from other poems . Poets
use a particular style which allows them get
the readers be interested and appreciate their
poems . In “ Sonnet 18 ” the poet ( William
Shakespeare ) makes use of fourteen lines to
interact with the readers . A sonnet is a poem or
a work of poetry that has fourteen lines .

In this poem , the poet uses three quatrains ( a

quatrain has 4 lines ) and ends the poem with a
couplet ( a couplet contains two lines ). There
are fourteen lines in the sonnet and the last
two lines of the sonnet ( couplet ) give the
intended meanings of the poem : As long as there
In “ Sonnet 18 ” the poet uses the following words and 
phrases The poet also uses imagery ( words , phrases or
expressions ) which works on our senses . Our senses are
engaged through the use of particular imagery and we , as the
readers feel the experiences , as if we too are part of the
experiences or events . We also feel the emotions or moods of
the persona , as we read the poems .
Using Language To Convey Language
The poet uses words to compare his love with summer .
He uses words or phrases like ‘ thou art more lovely and more
temperate ’ ( Line 2 ) to show the difference between his love
and summer . He uses the word ‘ more ’. He says she is lovelier
and more temperate than summer .

In Lines 3 – 8 the poet shows the weaknesses of summer .

Summer is unable to compete with his love . In fact , summer
has many weaknesses or shortcomings . The weaknesses of
summer are :

The winds are rough and shake off the buds on plants , so
there are fewer flowers around ( Line 3 ). Summer does not last
long ; it is only for a certain time of the year ( Line 4 ). The
sun is too hot ( Line 5 ). Sometimes the sun does not shine
brightly and is dimmed ( Line 6 ). The beauty of summer
declines ( Line 7 ), and it does not remain for long , as nature
takes it course ( line8 ).
 Imagery   Words and phrases

Sense of hearing   rough wind ,

breathe
Sense of touch   summer , wind , hot

Sense of smell   buds of May

Sense of sight summer , eye of

heaven shines , eyes
can see
The weaknesses of summer are shown through these
phrases used by the poet in the poem :

     ‘ shake the darling buds of May ’

     ‘ too short a date ’
     ‘ too hot the eyes of heaven shines ’
     ‘ gold complexion dimm ’ d ’
     ‘ fair from fair sometimes declines ’
     ‘ nature ’ s changing course , untrimm ’ d ’

The persona emphasises that summer is not as beautiful

as his love . This is seen in lines 9 - 12 . The shift
from the negative qualities of summer to positive
qualities of the persona ’ s beloved can be noted
through the use of the word ‘ but ’ in Line 9 .

In Line 9 , the persona admits that his love is an

eternal summer and does not fade .   He also tells that
she will never lose her possession of beauty ( Line 10 ).
Even death cannot take her wonders away ( Line 11 ). Her
beauty lives through the lines of the poems forever
( Line 12 ).
The beauty of his beloved is shown through these
phrases used by the poet in the poem:

     ‘eternal summer shall not fade’

     ‘possession of that fair thou ows’t’
     ‘Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade’
     ‘eternal lines to time thou grow’st’
     ‘fair from fair sometimes declines’
     ‘nature’s changing course, untrimm’d’

In the last two lines (couplet), the poet reinforces the

truth that his love will live through time and forever.
This is possible, as long as people are alive and read
the poem. The poem will be around forever to let the
world know about her true eternal beauty, which
surpasses summer many folds.

This can be noted in the couplet (Lines 13-14): 

     ‘men can breathe, or eyes can see’

     ‘lives this and this gives life to thee’
 Symbol
In literature, symbols relates to the use of objects, animals or
human experiences or socio-cultural aspects to mean
something. The eagle is often seen as a symbol of freedom
and strength. Red symbolises danger. Green would mainly
refer to the environment.  

The poet uses a summer as a symbol of comparison. Most

people consider summer to be the best period of the year as it
is warm and flowers bloom. Moreover, the sun shines, and
many activities go on. But, in the poem, summer is not a
symbol of joy and happiness. Summer has many weaknesses.
The persona wants the world to know that there is a different
summer, which is lovelier and more temperate. It is the
summer that lives in his beloved. It is an eternal summer than
last forever, through the lines of the poem.   
 Personification
The poet makes the elements of nature behave like a person
or have human qualities.
 
The sun is described as ‘the eye of heaven’ and the pronoun
‘his’ is used to show its gloominess ‘his gold complexion
dimm’d’.

The use of the word ‘complexion’ also relates to a person’s

physical characteristic.
 GLOSSARY

1. Engage – succeed in attracting and keeping people’s

interest and attention    
2. Intact – complete, everything is in
3. Perceptions – the way one perceives his or her
surrounding, outlooks
4. Reveals – make something known, expose
5. Immortal – live or last forever, be remembered forever
6. Cynical – do not think that something is good or important
7. Features – having aspects, characteristics