Shall I compare thee to a summers day

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18) William Shakespeare Mr. S. Abubacker Siddiq/ Assistant Professor of English/ Elizabethan Age/ “Sonnet 18”

Sonnet • a lyric poem • consists of fourteen lines • written in iambic pentameter • with a definite rhyme scheme • a definite thought structure

Shakespeare’s Sonnets Ø QUARTO • Pub. in 1609 by “T. T. ” Thomas Thorpe Ø DEDICATION • Dedicatee – “W. H. ” • William Herbert - Earl of Pembroke • Henry Wriothesley – Earl of Southampton

Shakespeare’s Sonnets Ø STRUCTURE • Three Quatrains & A Couplet • Volta – Beginning of third quatrain indicates turn • Rhyme scheme – ABAB CDCD EFEF GG • Iambic pentameter

Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Themes • TIME • IMMORTALITY • LOVE • DEATH • BEAUTY • VERSE • FRIENDSHIP

Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Classification • FAIR YOUTH SEQUENCE Sonnets 1 TO 126 (Addressed to a Young Man) • DARK LADY SEQUENCE Sonnets 127 TO 152 (Addressed to a Woman) • CLASSICAL/ GENERAL NATURE Sonnets 153 & 154 (Focus on Cupid, Desire, and Longing)

Sonnets to the Young Man • They form one of the most impressive explorations of themes of LOVE. • In his sonnets Shakespeare wishes to preserve the ETERNAL PART of the young’s man beauty against the effects of time. • There is a repeated idea of the poetry’s capacity to IMMORTALISE. • Shakespeare explores from all angles the sentiments the young man inspires him.

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 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.

SONNET 18 • Sonnet 18 uses a typical convention of Renaissance poems about the transience of youth and beauty. • COMPARISON with aspects of nature. Nature imaginery dominates the poem. • BUT, like a real summer, the young man’s youth won’t last long. • Turning point of the sonnet: In the world of the poem, his beauty will never fade. • ART will preserve the IDEA OF YOUTH.

SONNET 18 • Quatrain 1 (four-line stanza). . . . . A Shall I compare thee to a summer's DAY? . . . . If I compared you to a summer day B Thou art more lovely and more temper. ATE: . . . I'd have to say you are more beautiful and serene: A Rough winds do shake the darling buds of MAY, . . . By comparison, summer is rough on budding life, B And summer's lease hath all too short a DATE: . . And doesn't last long either: . • Quatrain 2 (four-line stanza). C Sometime too hot the eye of heaven SHINES, . . . At times the summer sun [heaven's eye] is too hot, D And often is his gold complexion DIMM'D; . . . . And at other times clouds dim its brilliance; C And every fair from fair sometime de. CLINES, . . . Everything fair in nature becomes less fair from time to time, D By chance or nature's changing course un. TRIMM'D; . . No one can change [trim] nature or chance; .

SONNET 18 • . Quatrain 3 (four-line stanza). E But thy eternal summer shall not FADE. . . However, yourself will not fade F Nor lose possession of that fair thou OWEST; . . . . Nor lose ownership of your fairness; E Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his SHADE, . . Not even death will claim you, F When in eternal lines to time thou GROWEST: . . . . Because these lines I write will immortalize you: . Couplet (two rhyming lines). G So long as men can breathe or eyes can SEE, . . . Your beauty will last as G long as men breathe and see, So long lives this and this gives life to THEE

Figures of Speech • SIMILE compares two different elements or ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities. Ex: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? ” • HYPERBOLE: the use of exaggeration as a rethorical device. Ex: “Shall I compare the to a summer’s day? ” • ASSONANCE is the repetition of vowel sounds. Ex: “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. ”

Figures of Speech • METAPHOR: the use of a word or phrase to refer to something that isn’t, creating a direct similarity between the word or phrase used and the thing described. Ex: “The eye of heaven” is used to referring to the SUN. • ALLITERATION: using several words that begin with the same letter. Ex: "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. "