Sonnet 18 (636 words) Essay Example For Students

Sonnet 18 (636 words) Essay Sonnet 18Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day? William Shakespeare (1564-1616),English poet and playwright, recognized in much of the world as the greatest ofall dramatists, is perhaps the most famous writer in the history of Englishliterature. By writing plays, Shakespeare earned recognition from his late 16thand early 17th century contemporaries, but he may have looked to poetry forenduring fame. His poetic achievements include a series of 154 sonnets. Many ofthe sonnets he wrote contain lines as well known as any in his plays. One of theperennial themes of Western literature?the brevity of life?is givenpoignantly personal and highly original expression in many of these poems. We will write a custom essay on Sonnet 18 (636 words) specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Shakespeares sonnets are arranged with three quatrains (4 lines) and acouplet (2 lines). This development was sufficiently original for the form tobecome known as the Shakespearean sonnet, which employs a rhyme scheme of ababcdcd efef gg. The poet is challenged to express his profound emotions andthoughts on life, death, war, and history in the condensed fourteen lines. Sonnet 18 comes from The Sonnets of Shakespeare printed in 1609: Shall Icompare thee to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Roughwinds do shake the darling buds of May, And summers lease hath all too shorta date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his goldcomplexion dimmed; And every fair form fair sometime declines, By chance, ornatures changing course, untrimmed. But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst Nor shall death brag thouwandrest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growst. So longas men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life tothee. Shakespeare begins the poem with a question that proposes a comparisonbetween his beloved and a summer season. Summer is chosen because it is theloveliest and the most pleasant season due to Englands cold weather. In thesecond line the comparison embarks to favor his beloved: his beloved is morebeautiful and less extreme tha n summer. The reasons for his adoration are givenin the next four lines, which describe the less pleasant aspects of summer: Thewind impairs the beauty of summer, and summer is too brief. The splendor ofsummer is affected by the intensity of the sunlight, and as the season changes,summer becomes less beautiful. Here Shakespeare uses the word fair with a doubleconnotation, the clear and sunny weather and the pleasing appearance of abeautiful woman, indicating that any beauty will fade one day. Starting from theninth line Shakespeare shifts his tone with a great passion: Thy eternalsummer shall not fade. She, unlike summer, will never deteriorate. Summer hasby now become the summer of life and beauty. In the next three lines thepoets assurance becomes even firmer with promises that his beloved willneither become less beautiful nor even die, because she is immortalized throughhis poetry. Line ten and eleven give an answer in comparison with line six andseven: The summers fair declines, but the fairness of his beloved will beeverlasting. The summers sun dims, but the life and beauty of his belovedwill be eternal. In line twelve the eternal lines to time not only refersto lines of poetry but also implies lines of shape, the shape of beauty. Becauseof the eternal lines of the poem, the life and beauty of his beloved will thriveand flourish. The poem finishes with a triumphant couplet, which explains andsummarizes the theme: poetry gives timeless life to beauty. In the poem ShallI compare thee to a summers day? Shakespeare compares the summersimperfection with his beloveds perfection. The poet employs the step-by- steparguments, to reach the conclusion: poetry is immortal and makes beautyimmortal. According to Shakespeare, the grace and effectiveness of the art ofpoetry is superior to nature, and thus makes it timeless and eternal, just likehis beloved.