Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare, Introduction to English Literature, 1st Year 1st Semester BA English Literature, University of Madras

 BA ENGLISH LITERATURE

FIRST YEAR - SEMESTER I

CORE I – INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LITERATURE

UNIT II - POETRY

2.3 Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

 
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About Author:

            William Shakespeare (1564-1616) born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was an English poet, playwright and actor. He was prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre. He was known as England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. He started as a small actor and later became a playwright and a producer of plays. Some of his major works: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, As you Like It, Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets:

            He wrote 154 sonnets. In that 1 to 126 sonnets addressed to anonymous handsome young man. 127 to 152 sonnets addressed to Dark Lady Mary Fitton and the last two sonnets 153 and 154: Cupid (regular sonnets). This sonnets was dedicated to W.H (William Herbert), Earl of Pembroke. It was written around 1599 and published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe.

Text:

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

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 ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Summary:

    The poet William Shakespeare wants to compare the beauty of his friend to a summer's day when he realizes that his friend is very beautiful and charming. So the beauty of summer my friend cannot be properly described and compared. The poet tells his friend in the second line that, he is more beautiful than a summer day. His nature is more beautiful and sweeter than the summer climate.

The poet says in the third line that the fierce wind destroys the beautiful buds that bloom in May even before they reach puberty. That's why the poet thinks it fit not to compare the beauty of his friend with the fierce wind that blows in summer.

The poet says in the fourth line, the beauty of summer is only for a short time. Time destroys this beauty very soon, so the poet does not want to compare the beauty of his friend. From the beauty carpet of a short time.

The poet says in the fifth and sixth lines that, sometimes the sun's rays are very bright in summer, but sometimes it becomes dim, which is mainly due to the clouds. That means the poet is talking about his friend. Don't want to compare with hazy summers.

The poet says in the seventh and eighth lines that, every beautiful thing loses its beauty by time, but the beauty of his friend is permanent. It will never end. So his friend is more handsome and charming than Summer's beauty.

The poet says in the ninth and tenth line/sonnet , Friend you can never be deprived of beauty. Your beauty is permanent which is free from the effects of summer. You cannot be separated from your honey.

Poet says, to his friend, he is sealed in immortal lines. His beauty will not diminish with the change of time and through the lines he will live forever.

The poet tells to his friend that as long as man lives on this earth, they will read this poem. He will always be in his mind. Man will take birth and end in death, but yhe will live forever and remain immortal through poetry.

The poet is fascinated by his mistress’s beauty, such that he cannot imagine that very beauty fading from his eyes. He argues that beauty is constant, and unlike a ‘summer day,’ is not affected by any changes or fate at all. He, however, seems to be praising his poem as characterized at the end of the poem, where he only compares the everlasting beauty to his text. The Sonnet eighteen’s conclusion indicates that beauty can only end only when the poem ceases to exist.

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