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Learn More. "Sonnet 18" is a sonnet written by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. The poem was likely written in the 1590s, though it was not published until 1609. Like many of Shakespeare's sonnets, the poem wrestles with the nature of beauty and with the capacity of poetry to represent that beauty.
The speaker opens the poem with a question addressed to the beloved: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” The next eleven lines are devoted to such a comparison. In line 2, the speaker stipulates what mainly differentiates the young man from the summer’s day: he is “more lovely and more temperate.” Summer’s days tend toward ...
Dec 26, 2016 · In this post, we’re going to look beyond that opening line, and the poem’s reputation, and attempt a short summary and analysis of Sonnet 18 in terms of its language, meaning, and themes. The poem represents a bold and decisive step forward in the sequence of Sonnets as we read them. For the first time, the key to the Fair Youth’s ...
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Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? attempts to justify the speaker’s beloved’s beauty by comparing it to a summer’s day and comes to the conclusion that his beloved is better after listing some of the summer’s negative qualities. While summer is short and occasionally too hot, his beloved has an everlasting beauty, and that will never be uncom...
Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18‘ adheres to the classic Shakespearean sonnet structure. It consists of 14 lines divided into three quatrains and a concluding couplet. This structure allows for a logical progression of ideas, with the final couplet serving as a powerful resolution. The poem’s organization reflects the speaker’s evolving thoughts, moving fr...
The poem opens with the speaker putting forward a simple question: can he compare his lover to a summer’s day? Historically, the theme of summertime has always been used to evoke a certain amount of beauty, particularly in poetry. Summer has always been seen as the respite from the long, bitter winter, a growing period where the earth flourishes it...
William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon to an alderman and glover. He is widely regarded as the greatest English writer of all time and wrote 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and 38 plays, though recently, another play has been found and attributed to William Shakespeare. Although much is known about his life, scholars are...
Readers who enjoyed ‘Sonnet 18’ should also consider reading some other William Shakespeare poems. For example: 1. ‘Sonnet 27’ – dwells on exhaustion and hope and how both are associated with a young man. 2. ‘Sonnet 38’ – focuses on the importance of the speaker’s muse, the Fair Youth, and how integral the young man is to the poet’s writing. 3. ‘So...
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Sonnet 18 (also known as "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day") is one of the best-known of the 154 sonnets written by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. In the sonnet , the speaker asks whether he should compare the Fair Youth to a summer's day, but notes that he has qualities that surpass a summer's day, which is one of the themes of the poem.
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 ...
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Thou art more lovely and more temperate: You are more lovely and more constant: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May. And summer's lease hath all too short a date: And summer is far too short: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, At times the sun is too hot, And often is his gold ...
