Introduction to Sonnet 18: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” by William Shakespeare
Sonnet 18 is one of William Shakespeare’s best-known and most frequently anthologized poems. It is part of his collection of 154 sonnets and is often seen as a reflection on the nature of beauty, love, and the immortality of poetry. Shakespeare explores how beauty, though fleeting, can be preserved eternally in the written word. In this sonnet, the poet compares the beauty of the person he is addressing to the fleeting beauty of a summer’s day, ultimately asserting that the beauty of the beloved will never fade, as it is immortalized through the poem itself.
Summary
In Sonnet 18, the poet begins by asking whether he should compare the person he is addressing to a summer day. He immediately asserts that the person is more beautiful and more temperate (mild or even). The poet acknowledges that summer days are not perfect: they are often marred by rough winds, excessive heat, or a short duration. In contrast, the beauty of the beloved is eternal. Unlike summer, which fades and is subject to chance or nature’s course, the beloved’s beauty will never decline. The poet assures that the beloved’s beauty will live on forever in the poem, which will be read as long as people exist, thus giving life to the beloved even after death.
Theme
The primary themes of Sonnet 18 are:
- Immortality Through Poetry: The poem emphasizes that while physical beauty may fade, the beauty of the beloved will be immortalized through the poet’s words.
- The Transience of Nature: Shakespeare contrasts the fleeting nature of a summer’s day with the eternal nature of the beloved’s beauty.
- The Power of Love and Admiration: The poem celebrates the beauty of the person being addressed, expressing eternal admiration.
- Beauty and Time: Shakespeare reflects on the passage of time and how it affects everything, but the beloved’s beauty transcends time.
Literary Devices
- Metaphor: The entire poem is based on the metaphor of comparing the beloved to a summer’s day. This comparison is used to explore themes of beauty and impermanence.
- Personification: The “eye of heaven” (the sun) is personified as having the ability to shine and dim. “Death” is also personified as bragging and claiming the beloved.
- Alliteration: The use of repeated consonant sounds, such as “Rough winds do shake,” emphasizes the harsh elements of nature.
- Rhyme Scheme: The sonnet follows the typical Shakespearean sonnet structure, with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG.
- Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence beyond a line break is used to create a smooth flow between thoughts, as seen in “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, / And often is his gold complexion dimm’d.”
- Symbolism: “Summer” symbolizes the height of beauty, while “eternal summer” symbolizes an unchanging, immortal beauty.
- Hyperbole: The claim that the beloved’s beauty will “live forever” is an exaggeration meant to highlight the enduring power of poetry.
Analysis
Sonnet 18 begins with a rhetorical question asking if the poet should compare the subject of the poem (the beloved) to a summer day. Shakespeare quickly rejects the comparison, stating that the beloved’s beauty is more consistent and enduring than a summer’s day, which is subject to unpleasant elements such as rough winds, intense heat, and a short duration. This marks the beginning of Shakespeare’s argument that beauty is impermanent in the natural world, yet the beauty of the beloved is eternal in the poet’s verses.
The poet emphasizes that the sun itself, often associated with warmth and beauty, can sometimes be too harsh (“too hot the eye of heaven shines”) and its golden complexion can be “dim’d” by clouds or other factors. Likewise, all beautiful things eventually fade, either due to external forces (chance) or the natural course of time.
However, Shakespeare assures the reader that the beloved’s “eternal summer” will never fade. The poem itself acts as the vehicle to preserve the beloved’s beauty for eternity. This concept suggests that poetry holds the power to immortalize people and moments, offering a kind of immortality that surpasses the natural life cycle.
The closing couplet reinforces this idea, suggesting that as long as humanity exists (“as long as men can breathe or eyes can see”), the poem will live on, and the beloved’s beauty will continue to live through it. The poem gives life to the beloved by making their beauty immortal in the written word.
Sonnet 18
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.
Words Meaning
Shall – Will (used to express future tense or intention).Compare – To examine the similarities and differences between two things.Thee – You (archaic form).Summer’s day – A day in summer, symbolizing beauty and warmth but also impermanence.Thou – You (archaic form).Art – Are (archaic form).More – Greater in degree or quality.Lovely – Beautiful, attractive.Temperate – Moderate, not extreme or harsh.Rough – Harsh, stormy.Winds – Moving air, a breeze or storm.Darling – Beloved, precious.Buds – The early stages of a flower or plant that will bloom.Lease – A period of time, a contract. In this case, it refers to the temporary nature of summer.Hath – Has (archaic form).All too short a date – Too brief a duration or lifespan.Sometime – Sometimes, occasionally.Hot – Intense heat, referring to the sun’s scorching rays.Eye of heaven – A metaphor for the sun.Shines – Gives light or radiance.Gold complexion – The golden color or appearance of the sun.Dimmed – Made less bright, obscured.Fair – Beautiful, attractive.Declines – Diminishes, fades away.Chance – Random occurrences or luck.Nature’s changing course – The inevitable progression or change in the natural world (like the changing seasons or aging).Untrimm’d – Unchanged, not pruned or altered.Eternal – Lasting forever, never-ending.Summer – A season that represents warmth and beauty but is also fleeting.Fade – To lose brightness, strength, or beauty over time.Possession – Ownership or control of something.Death – The end of life.Brag – To boast or show off.Wander’st – You wander (archaic form of “wander” used with “thou”).Shade – A metaphor for death or the grave.Eternal lines – The lines of the poem, which will endure forever and immortalize the beloved’s beauty.Grow’st – You grow (archaic form).Breathe – To inhale and exhale air, implying life.Eyes can see – Refers to vision or sight, implying human existence.Lives – Exists, endures.This – Refers to the poem itself.Gives life to thee – Grants immortality or eternal life through the poem, preserving the beloved’s beauty forever.
Line-by-Line Explanation
- “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
- The poet begins with a rhetorical question, pondering whether to compare the beloved to a summer day. This sets up the theme of beauty and impermanence.
- “Thou art more lovely and more temperate:”
- Shakespeare immediately rejects the comparison, stating that the beloved is more beautiful and more moderate in their temper (i.e., their beauty is steady, not affected by the extremes of summer weather).
- “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,”
- Summer is not perfect: rough winds can harm the young buds of May (spring), symbolizing the unpredictable nature of beauty and the elements.
- “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;”
- Summer itself has a limited time span, implying that even the most beautiful things (like summer) are temporary.
- “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,”
- The “eye of heaven” is a metaphor for the sun, which can sometimes be too hot and harsh, suggesting that beauty, like the sun, can be overwhelming or excessive.
- “And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;”
- The sun’s golden light is often obscured or “dimmed” by clouds, a reminder that all things of beauty can be affected by the forces of nature.
- “And every fair from fair sometime declines,”
- All things beautiful will eventually lose their beauty over time, whether due to external factors (chance) or the natural course of aging.
- “By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;”
- Beauty fades because of chance (random occurrences) or the inevitable changes brought by nature. “Untrimm’d” suggests something left unaltered, as time erodes beauty.
- “But thy eternal summer shall not fade,”
- Unlike the summer day, the beloved’s “eternal summer” will never fade, symbolizing an everlasting beauty.
- “Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;”
- The beloved will not lose their beauty; it will remain constant and unchanging.
- “Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,”
- Death will not claim the beloved, and the poet assures that death will not boast that the beloved is lost to him.
- “When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:”
- The beloved will live forever in the “eternal lines” of the poem, which will preserve their beauty beyond the passage of time.
- “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,”
- As long as humans are alive and able to read or see, the poem will endure.
- “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
- As long as the poem exists, the beauty of the beloved will live on in it, offering them a form of immortality.
Why is he saying it?
Sonnet 18 is arguably the most famous of the sonnets, its opening line competitive with “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” in the long list of Shakespeare’s quotable quotations. The gender of the addressee is not explicit, but this is the first sonnet after the socalled “procreation sonnets” (sonnets 1-17), i.e., it apparently marks the place where the poet has abandoned his earlier push to persuade the fair lord to have a child. The first two quatrains focus on the fair lord’s beauty: the poet attempts to compare it to a summer’s day, but shows that there can be no such comparison, since the fair lord’s timeless beauty far surpasses that of the fleeting, inconstant season.
Here the theme of the ravages of time again predominates; we see it especially in line 7, where the poet speaks of the inevitable mortality of beauty: “And every fair from fair sometime declines.” But the fair lord’s is of another sort, for it “shall not fade” – the poet is eternalizing the fair lord’s beauty in his verse, in these “eternal lines.” Note the financial imagery (“summer’s lease”) and the use of anaphora (the repetition of opening words) in lines 6-7, 10-11, and 1314. Also note that May (line 3) was an early summer month in Shakespeare’s time, because England did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752.
The poet describes summer as a season of extremes and disappointments. He begins in lines 34, where “rough winds” are an unwelcome extreme and the shortness of summer is its disappointment. He continues in lines 5-6, where he lingers on the imperfections of the summer sun. Here again we find an extreme and a disappointment: the sun is sometimes far too hot, while at other times its “gold complexion” is dimmed by passing clouds. These imperfections contrast sharply with the poet’s description of the fair lord, who is “more temperate” (not extreme) and whose “eternal summer shall not fade” (i.e., will not become a disappointment) thanks to what the poet proposes in line 12.
In line 12 we find the poet’s solution – how he intends to eternalize the fair lord’s beauty despite his refusal to have a child. The poet plans to capture the fair lord’s beauty in his verse (“eternal lines”), which he believes will withstand the ravages of time. Thereby the fair lord’s “eternal summer shall not fade,” and the poet will have gotten his wish. Here we see the poet’s use of “summer” as a metaphor for youth, or perhaps beauty, or perhaps the beauty of youth.
But has the poet really abandoned the idea of encouraging the fair lord to have a child? Some scholars suggest that the “eternal lines” in line 12 have a double meaning: the fair lord’s beauty can live on not only in the written lines of the poet’s verse but also in the family lines of the fair lord’s progeny. Such an interpretation would echo the sentiment of the preceding sonnet’s closing couplet: “But were some child of yours alive that time / You should live twice; in it and in my rhyme.” The use of “growest” also implies an increasing or changing: we can envision the fair lord’s family lines growing over time, yet this image is not as readily applicable to the lines of the poet’s verse – unless it refers only to his intention to continue writing about the fair lord’s beauty, his verse thereby “growing.” On the other hand, line 14 seems to counter this interpretation, the singular “this” (as opposed to “these”) having as its most likely antecedent the poet’s verse, and nothing more.
Conclusion
Sonnet 18 is a meditation on the nature of beauty and the power of poetry. Shakespeare uses the metaphor of a summer day to explore the transient nature of physical beauty and the inevitable passage of time. However, the poem itself is presented as a means of preserving beauty for eternity, asserting that the written word can grant immortality to the beloved. This sonnet is one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated works because of its timeless message and its celebration of the enduring power of poetry.
