Essay Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (“Sonnet 18”) is one of Shakespeare’s most famous poems. It is the model English, or Shakespearean sonnet: it contains three quatrains and a finishing couplet.. The poem follows the traditional English sonnet form by having the octet introduce an idea or set up the poem, and the sestet beginning with a volta, or turn in perspective. In the octet of Sonnet 18, Shakespeare poses the question “Shall I compare the to a summer’s day” and basically begins to describe all the bad qualities of summer. He says it’s too windy, too short, too hot, and too cloudy. Eventually fall is going to come and take away all the beauty because of the changes nature brings. In the sestet, however, his tone changes as he begins to talk about his beloved’s “eternal summer” (Shakespeare line 9). This is where the turn takes place in the poem. Unlike the summer, their beauty will never fade. Not even death can stop their beauty for, according to Shakespeare, as long as people can read this poem, his lover’s beauty will continue to live. Shakespeare believes that his art is more powerful than any season and that in it beauty can be permanent.

One of the unfortunate realities of the world is that nothing lasts forever. Beauty fades, love can be lost, and the joy of youth fades into old age. A failure to understand that it is not the nature of such lovely and valuable things to endure forever can lead to intense disappointment and sorrow. Robert Frost wished to convey this point and warn his readers of the inevitable end which such precious things will face in his brief poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” Through the use of various stylistic choices and poetic elements, Frost effectively enhances his message and prompts the reader to think on a deeper level.

	This immunity from devouring time is accomplished by immortalisation in lines of verse. These lines will even make stronger and more beautiful as time proceeds, as line 12 points out. The use of the word "eternal" in this line as well as in line 9 ("eternal summer") contrasts sharply with the idea of finiteness attached to "a summer’s day" (line 1) and "every fair" (line 7). The immortalisation is continued in the final lines: life will be preserved by the readers

In Shakespeare’s poem, Sonnet 18, he describes his perspective of love. Using symbolism, he compares a women to the beauty of a summer’s day. By expressing and explaining why he makes this comparison he conceives a cheerful mood. Although the beauty of a summer's day is lovely, it does has its downfalls, and shakespeare elaborates on this later in the poem.

   Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare is widely read and studied. But what is Shakespeare  trying to say? Though it seems there will not be a simple answer, for a better understanding of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, this essay offers an explication of the sonnet from The Norton Anthology of English Literature:

Poetry has always had a common theme where lovers are portrayed as goddess-like, based on their beauty and love. However, in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” written as an English sonnet, the speaker has a different vision, as he realizes that his lover’s beauty cannot be compared to that of a goddess, nor can it be found in nature for she is just a typical human being. His love for her is eventually shown, but without the use of the cliché image of beauty. Shakespeare’s use of metaphors, contrast, language and structure demonstrates that love is complicated and that real beauty is unrealistic and impossible to live up to.

     The sonnet, being one of the most traditional and recognized forms of poetry, has been used and altered in many time periods by writers to convey different messages to the audience. The strict constraints of the form have often been used to parallel the subject in the poem. Many times, the first three quatrains introduce the subject and build on one another, showing progression in the poem. The final couplet brings closure to the poem by bringing the main ideas together. On other occasions, the couplet makes a statement of irony or refutes the main idea with a counter statement. It leaves the reader with a last impression of what the author is trying to say.

Within these respective poems, the poets explore love in various forms. In Sonnet 116 we see love as pure, immeasurable and immortal; William Shakespeare continues this conceit in Sonnet 18 too. Within My Last Duchess, love explores the submissive and possessive side effects of being completely infatuated, which similarly links with La Belle, however instead of patriarchal power, domination is shown through a woman. First Love is comparable to both Sonnets, in which love is portrayed passionately, presenting real love and the overwhelming feeling it can convey. Finally Porphyria’s Lover portrays unrequited love with a sinister background alike My Last Duchess.

It praises the lovers who have united solely because of love and not due to other pressures. The first four lines show the speaker's belief that love is strong and constant. He states that "Love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds" (Lines 2-3). The next line says that love does not immediately quit when a dilemma arises. It works through the problem to make the love stronger. The word mark in the fifth line refers to a beacon to warn mariners of dangerous rocks. "It is an ever-fixéd mark,/ That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark" (Lines 4-6). This begins the metaphor of marriage and love to a beacon of light in a storm. It compares a marital altercation being guided by love to a beacon that guides a ship through a storm. Just as the beacon keeps the ship headed toward its destination, love keeps a marriage focused instead of fixating on petty arguments or indiscretions. The lines "Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken/ Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheek/ Within his bending sickle's compass come" (Lines 7-9) describe the idea that although humans can measure love to some degree, no one fully understands it. The imagery of Time and his bending sickle is also an allusion to Judgment Day. It furthers Shakespeare's point that love can withstand anything. The perfect nature of love endures over time, illness, or any other impediments it may encounter. In the

In modern times, youth and beauty is an image seen everywhere. For example, a Versace billboard, magazine ad, TV commercial, all of which displays images of beautiful people. But what happens when this beauty fades? Shakespeare in his 12th sonnet talks about his experience and fading beauty. The purpose of this poem is to encourage a young man to not lose his beauty to the ravages of time. In order to do this, one must reproduce so beauty will live.

For Shakespeare Sonnet 18, there have been many controversies about what the Sonnet is about. Some say it’s about a woman, other say it’s about a man. However, one can believe that Sonnet 18 is about a man due to the background of Shakespeare, plot, character, theme, symbols, settings, point of view, impact of society and style based on the connotation of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was born during the 17th century. During this time, there were still issues with religion.

The theme of this poem is true beauty. In the poem, the poet examines summer as a metaphor for love. The poet believes that summer is not as similar to love, as you might expect it to be. This is clear because in the first few lines the poet asked “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and to that he gave a reply “Thou art more lovely and more temperate”. This means that his love is more lovelier and

When he compares the poem and a summer’s day, he describes the summer’s flaws, which the poem does not have, showing his appreciation and love of the poem’s beauty. For example, Shakespeare says that summer does not last long, “but [the poem’s] eternal summer shall not fade,” meaning that the poem will stay young forever. It also means that the poem will be immortal because staying young forever means never dying. This displays Shakespeare’s love because beauty correlates with youth so in the context of the poem, this means that it will stay beautiful forever. When someone notices and appreciates the beauty of a person or an object, this mean that the person loves that person or object. Shakespeare also uses exaggeration in “Sonnet 18” to portray love. He exaggerates the poem’s immortality when he writes, “so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” This is an exaggeration because Shakespeare makes the poem appear like an animate object which makes the poem seem more precious and valued. When Shakespeare makes this exaggeration, this shows his love for the poem because he sees it as precious through the exaggeration. Furthermore, Shakespeare uses vivid descriptions

has the gentle heart of a woman but is not inconsistent as is the way

Each line indicates how the narrator is going to protect the friend or lover from the fate of vanishing away. The lover life is described in a metaphor as a "summer," and then the beauty is labeled in another metaphor as a product that can be held or allocated. Death is then alive, as the supervisor of the shadow. In conclusion the "lines of time" are a metaphor for verse, which will eventually protect the lover and "eternal,” is a similarity with "eternal summer" in line nine. Note how the tune of the poem begins to change in line nine-twelve from a happy tune at the beginning of the poem to a serious tune. Lines thirteen-fourteen the narrator is speaking to all humanity; stating that as long as men live and can read the poem will continue to be alive. Well, it depends what he meant by "alive." If we read alive methodically, as flourishing, well then alive is a metaphor. But if we understand viable as the existence of some kind then perhaps he does mean literally, since the poem and the lover exist for us in some