SONNET (18)
Shakespeare changed the internal form of the Sonnet. He divided
the 14 lines into 3 quatrains (four lines) and a heroic couplet (2
lines).
The main idea:
The poet opens the poem with a question to his beloved "shall I compare you
to a summer's day?" the poet answers his question in the rest of the poem
and shows that there is no such comparison. The poet goes on for the next
lines to explain this answer by explaining the negative points which can be
found in a summer's day. Then he goes into his beloved's beauty and that it
will last forever as long as she is in his poem.
Lines 1, 2, 3 ,4 / The First Quatrain: 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:
Shakespeare asks if he could compare his beloved to a summer's day. Then
he refuses doing so as she is more beautiful and more sweet-tempered. He
mentions why he doesn't like the idea of such comparison as a summer's day
is sometimes so windy that it roughly shakes the tiny flowers. The summer is
of a short duration.
Figure of speech
Alliteration: line 3 (do - darling) to give music
Metaphor: line 4"And summer's lease hath all too short a date"
The poet compares the period of summer to a "lease" which has a fixed period
of time.
Rhyme Scheme: AB AB
Lines 5, 6, 7 ,8 /
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed
The sun in summer is very hot and sometimes the sky is cloudy. It’s a fact that
every beautiful thing has an end by accident or by death.
Figure of speech
Alliteration: line 5 (hot – heaven)
line 7 (fair – from)
line 8 (chance – changing) to give music
Metaphor: line 5"The eye of heaven shines"
The poet describes the sun as the eye of heaven
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Personification: line 5
The poet gives heaven the image of a person who has an eye
{the poet personifies the heaven as a person who has an eye}
Rhyme Scheme: CD CD
Lines 9, 10, 11, 12 /
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade
, When in eternal lines to time thou growest;
The poet says that his beloved's youth and beauty will be everlasting as he is
sure that his beloved will always be beautiful and never be affected by the old
age, even death will fail to put her in its dark shadow.
Figure of speech
Metaphor: line 9"Thy eternal music"
The poet is using summer to describe the peak of someone's life" loveliness.
Metaphor: line 12"When in eternal lines to time thou growest"
The poet describes his beloved as living forever and reproducing through his
lines.
Personification: line 11
"Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade"
The poet gives death the image of a person who is boasting.
{the poet personifies the death as person who is boasting}
Alliteration: line 11 (shall – shade) to give music
Rhyme Scheme: EF EF
Lines 13, 14 / The Couplet:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
The poet’s beloved woman will actually live in his poetry which will be always
read as long as mankind exists.
Alliteration: line 14 (live – life) to give music
Rhyme Scheme: GG
- The opening lines poses a simple question which the rest of the sonnet
answers.
The poet compares his loved one to a summer's day and finds him to be
"more lovely and more temperate."
- The poet discovers that love and the man's beauty are more permanent than
a summer's day because summer is tainted by occasional winds and the
eventual change of season. While summer must always come to an end, the
speaker's love for the man is eternal.
- Shakespeare changed the internal form of the sonnet. The rhyme scheme of
his
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sonnet is ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG
1. What's a sonnet? What is the difference between the Italian and
Shakespearean sonnet?
- The sonnet is a poem of 14 lines, dealing with one idea or emotion and that
idea or emotion is usually a personal one.
- The sonnet originated in Italy and in its first form was divided into 2 parts:
one consisting of 8 lines (octet), the other of 6 lines (sestet). Shakespeare
changed the internal form of sonnet. He divided the 14 lines into 3 quatrains
and a heroic couplet.
2. What will make the lady's beauty everlasting? or How could
Shakespeare immortalize his beloved?
- Her beauty will be everlasting in the verse of the poet's sonnet that will be
repeated among people forever as long as men live, and as long as they read
poetry.
3. In sonnet 18 Shakespeare says that poetry defeats time. Discuss.
- Shakespeare believes that poetry defeats time and death. He says that poetry
prevents death and time from forgetting the people who are mentioned in the
poems.
4. Why does the poet use the repetition of certain words?
- To create internal musical patterns in the sonnet, for example: more / fair/so
long.
5. Pick up the figures of speech in sonnet 18?
- Shakespeare used only a few traditional metaphors in this sonnet, ex.
* describing the sun as the "eye of heaven" * also the internal summer
* There is also personification in: "his gold" complexion.
7. What's the comparison of the poem? Why is it an effective
comparison?
- The speaker begins by comparing the man's beauty to summer, but soon the
man becomes a force of nature himself. In the line, "thy eternal summer shall
not fade, "the man suddenly embodies summer. As a perfect being, he
becomes more powerful than the summer's day to which he was being
compared.
THE final word
1- What’s the main idea of the poem sonnet 18th?
The poet compares his beloved to a summer’s day to tell the reader
that she is beautiful and she is more than beautiful.
2- What’s the difference between the Italian sonnet and the
Shakespearean sonnet?
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The Italian sonnet is divided into two parts. The first 8 line are called
“octet”, the final 6 lines are called “sestet”
The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three parts. Each part
consists of four lines plus two lines called “heroic couplet”
3- what’s “heroic couplet”?
It’s two rhyming lines having the same idea.
4- Paraphrase the poem
The put his main idea in l.1. He asks if he can compare his beloved
girl to the beautiful summer. Then he refuses the idea in l.2 saying
that his beloved is more beautiful.
l. 3-8 he gives reasons for this; he says that the time of summer is
short and it’s full of wind. Also it’s so hot.
l. 9- 12 he says that the beauty of his beloved will last forever. She
won’t become old. She won’t die.
In the final two lines he promises his beloved that she will live forever
because she will live in his poetry.
5- pick up the figure of speech in sonnet 18
They are not many because Shakespeare wants to say that he is
talking about facts.
Metaphor: describing the “sun “as the eye of heaven.
Personification: in l.6 he personifies the summer as a person who has
golden complexion.
Personification: in l.11 “death “
6- Why does the poet use the repetition of certain words?
To create musical patterns
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