Shall I compare
thee to a summer’s
day?
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
HELLO!
Priyanka Rajendran (4203001841D)
Predina Francis Kumar (4203003731)
Shamini Nair Ravindran (4211000241)
Suvitra Ganesan Moorthy (4211000211)
2
3
PARAPHRASE
4
Is it reasonable for me to contrast you [my
love] to a lovely summer day? Indeed,
you're more attractive and, more
importantly, calmer [than a summer day].
As even in May, it can turn windy, and the
buds on the trees might be blown away.
Summer might feel like it doesn't last very
long at times. It's possible that the sun is
very hot, or that the sun is covered [by
clouds or severe weather].
5
And, to be honest, anything beautiful loses
its luster with time. This could be due to
poor fortune or the fact that everyone and
everything ages with time. BUT [and this is
the point] you'll maintain your ["summary"]
appearance indefinitely. And no, you will
not lose your natural beauty. Mortality
[personified] will not be eligible to claim
ownership of you once I've immortalized
you in this poem [He can't take you away
from me by taking you to his dark abode].
6
My poetry will continue to exist for as
long as humans can breathe or see. It is
my poetry that will ensure that the
remembrance of your loveliness will live
on in perpetuity.
7
THEME
8
Shakespeare uses Sonnet 18 to praise
his beloved’s beauty and describe all
the ways in which their beauty is
preferable to a summer day. The
stability of love and its power to
immortalize someone is the
overarching theme of this poem
9
TONE
10
The poem features an affectionate mood
portrayed by the poet throughout the poem. The
tone of the Sonnet 18 is that of the romantic
intimacy of a young man intrigued by a woman’s
beauty. The mood and the tone, therefore, play a
significant role in describing the setting of the
poem
11
IMAGERY
12
The imagery of the Sonnet 18 include personified
death and rough winds. The poet has even gone
further to label the buds as ‘darling’ (Shakespeare 3).
Death serves as a supervisor of ‘its shade,’ which is a
metaphor of ‘after life’ (Shakespeare 11). All these
actions are related to human beings. ‘Eternal lines to
lines though growest’ (Shakespeare 12) is a praise to
the poet’s poems which he says will last forever so
long as ‘men can breathe or eyes can see,’ a metaphor
symbolizing ‘poet lovers’ will be there to read them
(Shakespeare 13).
13
He views beauty as an art that cannot
diminish despite all the hurdles in life.
However, beauty does not apply to everything
but only to images that appeal more to the
eyes of the beholder than nature itself. That
kind of beauty is immortal and surpasses all
tribulations caused by nature itself.
14
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
15
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
- the metaphor for the whole poem, which compares the woman the speaker loves to a
summer day.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
- In these lines, the metaphor is comparing the sun to the eye of heaven. This figurative
language emphasizes the beauty or radiance of the sun. His underlying point lies in the
fact that even the sun (the eye of heaven) will get dim from time to time, but the beauty of
his beloved will never fade.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
- this metaphor reiterates the fundamental comparison of this woman to a summer's day.
16
TYPES OF
POEM
17
Type of poem:
Descriptive poem
The first two quatrains represent a continuing
contrast between the summer and Shakespeare's
lover. Then, in the third quatrain (9th line), there is a
noticeable shift in tone as Shakespeare begins to
discuss his beloved's morals. The poem is then
concluded with a rhyming couplet that summarizes
and redefines what has come before it.
18
THANK YOU!
Any questions?
19