Valentina Henriet

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An analysis of Sonnet 18

• Valentina Henriet

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• Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou
  art more lovely and more temperateRough 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 fadeNor lose
  possession of that fair thou owestNor 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.

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An introduction to Shakespeares Sonnets

• Some of these sonnets were written as early as
  1580s, but most were written in the 1590s
• Published in 1609 (with the exception of
  Passionate Pilgrim sonnets previously published
  in 1599)
• Most use the ELIZABETHAN FORM
• 3 quatrains and a final couplet
• rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

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Themes

• Many of these poems deal with the
• THEME OF LOVE and TIME
• LOVE outlasts TIME
• POETRY outlasts both LOVE AND TIME
• Other themes beauty, death, friendship, power of
  the beloved and suffering of the lover.

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Two groups of sonnets

• 154 Sonnets divided into 2 groups
• a) 126 sonnets addressed to a YOUNG, good-looking
  MAN (Fair Youth)
• b) 28 sonnets addressed to a mysterious DARK LADY

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Sonnets to the young man

• They form one of the most impressive explorations
  of the themes of LOVE.
• Shakespeare explores from all angles the
  sentiments the young man inspires him.

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Sonnets to the young man

• In his sonnets Shakespeare wishes to preserve the
  ETERNAL PART of the youngs man beauty against
  the effects of time.
• There is a repeated idea of the poetrys capacity
  to IMMORTALISE.

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Sonnet 18

• Sonnet 18 uses a typical convention of
  Renaissance poems about the transience of youth
  and beauty.
• COMPARISON with aspect of nature. Nature
  imaginery dominates the poem .
• To a summers day

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Sonnet 18

• BUT, like a real summer, the young mans youth
  wont 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.

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1st quatrain

• Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
• Thou art more lovely and more temperate
• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of may
• And summers lease hath all too short a date

• Should I compare you to a summers day?
• The youths beauty is more gentle and restrained
  than the beauty of a summer day.
• Strong winds shake the beautiful bud of the
  early summer
• Summer has a deadline which is too short
• (LEASE legal terminology)

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2nd quatrain
Sometimes the sun shines too hot And his
golden face is often obscured All beautiful
things occasionally become inferior in comparison
with their essential previous state of beauty
By chance or by the changing course of the
nature without ornaments
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven
shines And often is his gold complexion
dimmed And every fair from fair sometime
decline By chance, or natures changing
course untrimmed

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3rd quatrain

• But thy eternal summer shall not fade
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst
• Nor shall death brag thou wanderst in his shade
• When in eternal lines to time thou growst

• But your eternal summer shall not die
• Nor shall it lose its hold on that beauty which
  you so richly possess
• And you will never die
• As you will live on my enduring poetry

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Final couplet

• So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see
• So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

• As long as people live and breathe, as long as
  eyes can see it
• That is how long these verses will live,
  celebrating you , and continually renewing you
  life.

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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 summers day?
• HYPERBOLE the use of exaggeration as a
  rethorical device.
• Ex Shall I compare the to a summers day?
• ASSONANCE is the repetition of vowel sounds.
• Ex So long lives this, and this gives life to
  thee.

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Figures of speech

• METAPHOR the use of a word or phrase to refer to
  something that isnt, 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."

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Figures of speech

• PERSONIFICATION the attribution of human
  qualities to objects
• his gold complexion dimmed where HIS is used
  to referring to the SUN
• REPETITION the use of words repeatedly to
  reinforce an image, idea or to convey a message
• Ex Note the repetition of certain words through
  the sonnet summer, fair, so long, thou.

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Meter

• The meter is IAMBIC PENTAMETER which means 5
  iambic feet ten syllable lines in which
  even-numbered syllables are naturally accented
• A IAMB is a metrical foot consisting of an
  unaccented syllable followed by an accented
  syllable.
• ex Shall I com PARE thee TO a SUM mers DAY?
• This beat is used as it replicates the rhythm of
  that human heart and is a popular metre for love
  poetry.

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Final observations

• In William Shakespeares Sonnet 18, one gets the
  feeling he is describing a love that goes beyond
  the temporal realm of time and seasons.
• LINES ONE AND TWO start with a question which the
  rest of the sonnet answers.
• LINES THREE THROUGH EIGHT point out a number of
  negative characteristics of summer.
• LINES NINE THROUGH FOURTEEN offer a view of the
  lover's many contrasts with nature.