an a Shall | 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: Vocabulary thee: you thou art: you are temperate: moderate; mild tough: wild; not soft buds: young rolled - up flowers or leaves before they open lease: rent; (summer ‘rents' a certain amount of time) hath: has date: time Shakespeare begins his sonnet asking whether he should compare his beloved to a summer's day. The answer comes immediately: his beloved is more beautiful and more delightful. Then the poet begins to point out the imperfections of summer. He says that even in May, it is sometimes windy, and the strong winds shake the small fragile buds. Moreover, summer does not last for long; it is far too short and gives way to the other seasons. re fFLiterary terms a- Metaphor Line 4 “And summer's lease hath all too short a date:” * Summer is compared to something leased for a short time. b- Repetition: Line 2 “Thou art more lovely and more temperate:” « The word ‘more’ is repeated twice. c- Contrast: Lines 1 - 2 “Shall | compare thee to a summer's day?” Thou art more lovely and more temperate:” « The image of hot summer is contrasted with the delightful image of his beloved. d. Assonance: Line 4 “And summer's lease hath all too short a date:" The same vowel sound “o” is repeated in “too” and “short”. Rhyme scheme $$et Stanza Two ) Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm‘d; | And every fair from fair sometimes declines, ; By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; Vocabulary eye of heaven: the sun complexion: the natural colour of the skin, especially of ihe face. dimm'd: (dimmed)made not bright fair: beauty; beautiful thing declines: to become less ; decays untrimmed: deprived of beauty; unpleasant The second quatrain (stanza) continues to develop the argument and discusses the flaws of the summer, which is described as a season of extremes and disappointments. A summer's day is ruined when the sun shines too brightly and makes the weather too hot, or when the sun is dimmed by clouds. This suggests that the sun is rarely or never in a desirable medium. A summer's day is finally darkened by night, nf foand darkness replaces sunshine. The poet states that every Peel creature will eventually lose its beauty, either through some accident or because it is natural for all living things to grow and die. a- Metaphor line 1 “Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,” The sun is likened to the eye of heaven. b- Personification: line 1 “Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,” * Heaven is personified as a human being who can see, line 2 “And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;” * The sun is personified as a human being with a face and complexion. c- Alliteration: Line3 “And every fair from fair sometimes declines,” * The consonant sound ‘f' is repeated in ‘fair’, ‘from’, and ‘fair’. d- Repetition: Line 3 “And every fair from fair sometimes declines,” The word ‘fair' is repeated twice. —Rhyme scheme — Stanza Three) 7 ¥ 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; Vocabulary thy: your eternal: lasting forever ; without an end fade: lose freshness and brightness; became pale lose possession: no longer have owest: have; own brag: boast; talk too proudly. thou growest: you will have immortality; you continue to live In this quatrain, the poet states that the beauty of his beloved a_iwill last forever and is never dimmed. Death will never be able to boast that it possesses his beloved, or that it takes her under its power. Death will never claim her for its own. The reason is simple: the beauty of the poet's beloved will be immortalized in the lines of his sonnet. a- Metaphor line 1 “But thy eternal summer shall not fade,” * The poet compares the beauty of his beloved to summer. b- Personification: Line 3 “Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,” * Death is described as a braggart, boasting of his power. c- Alliteration: Line 4 “When in eternal lines to time thou growest;" « The consonant sound 't’ is repeated in ‘to’ and ‘time’. d. Repetition : Lines 2, 3,4 “Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; When in eternal lines to time thou growest;" Both “ nor" and “ thou" are repeated twice. Rhyme scheme —Panes So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. The couplet confirms the poet's belief in the immortality of both his poetry and his beloved. The poet states that as long as there are people on this earth, both his verse and his beloved will be linked together and willlive forever. Literary terms a-Alliteration: Line 2 “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” * The consonant sound ‘I’ is repeated in ‘long’, ‘lives’ and ‘life’. b- Repetition: Lines 1 and 2 “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” * The phrase 'so long’ is repeated twice. —_— ere¢ The word “ this" is repeated twice . c. Assonance : line 2 “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” The same vowel sound “i" is repeated in “lives”, "this" and “gives”. d- Hyperbole: * The poemis based onan extendedhyperbole. Shakespeare says that the beauty of his beloved outlasts and outshines a summer's day and stands the test of time and death. Rhyme scheme 1.According to Shakespeare, what are the defects of a summer's day? Why does he point them out? 2. Explain how “every fair from fair sometimes declines", by referring to the first eight lines of the sonnet. 3.Comment on the themes of time and death as presented in the poem. 4.In Shakespeare's opinion, can the beauty of a summer's day compete with the beauty of his beloved? Why? 5.What makes the poet believe that the beauty of his beloved is immortal? ic lta HD