"Sonnet 18"
by William Shakespeare
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 dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
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.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why is this poem so famous, do you think?
2. Tell me two poetic devices you see used somewhere here.
1. Well, the first line is kind of memorable (not to mention it really is what he's doing throughout the poem). Maybe people like it because they can kind of identify with it, like they've felt this sort of thing themselves.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's got some really clear imagery to it, which makes it extra relatable.
Delete2. Personification is in there a lot, and there's a couplet at the end, I think.
ReplyDeleteYup, there's a couplet at the end, because it's a sonnet. And I can see a little personification.
Delete1. I think because in it Shakespeare makes a comparison that all people who fall in love with someone not just because of their attraction, make, and puts it into beautiful words. Everyone feels that the person they love's metaphorical beauty (metaphorical beauty being what they love about them that isn't physical) should never be forgotten. Perhaps not so strongly as Shakespeare puts it in this sonnet, but they think it nonetheless. And them Shakespeare gives this beauty immortality (immortality in an earthly sense, at least). So besides the poem just being objectively beautiful, I think this is one of his more famous poems because whenever someone reads it and compares a person they love to it, that person all of a sudden becomes immortal along with the actual person the poem's about. That was kind of long winded, sorry!
ReplyDeleteI like long comments :-)
DeleteThat's a really cool thought -- that if you read this to someone you're in love with, and say it reminds you of them, you are letting them share a little in literary immortality.
2. Well, I think when he compares the beauty of the subject of his poem to a summer, that's a simile. And then there's also alliteration in the line "And every fair from fair sometime declines", I think. I'm not sure though. Is it alliteration if it's the same word?
ReplyDeleteYup, since he talks about comparison, it's a simile and not a metaphor.
DeleteUsing the same word twice always feels a little cheaty, but I think it does count. I see some other alliteration too -- hot and heaven, chance and changing.