The Anatomy of a Shakespearean Sonnet - mouse over each
part of the sonnet to learn more about its structure.
Sonnet 18 by 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 wand'rest 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.
The Anatomy of a Shakespearean Sonnet - mouse over each
part of the sonnet to learn more about its structure.
This is the first
Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare
quatrain.
Note the
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
rhyme
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
scheme:
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
ABAB. The
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
speaker is
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
introducing the
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: topic, usually a
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
metaphor, in
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
these lines.
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest 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.
The Anatomy of a Shakespearean Sonnet - mouse over each
part of the sonnet to learn more about its structure.
Sonnet 18 by 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 wand'rest 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.
In the
second
quatrain, the
rhyme
scheme is
CDCD. The
speaker
continues
his
comparison.
The Anatomy of a Shakespearean Sonnet - mouse over each
part of the sonnet to learn more about its structure.
Sonnet 18 by 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 wand'rest 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.
In the third
quatrain, the
rhyme
scheme is
EFEF. The
comparison
is further
developed.
The Anatomy of a Shakespearean Sonnet - mouse over each
part of the sonnet to learn more about its structure.
Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare The final
lines are
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
called a
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
couplet (or
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
the turn) and
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
summarizes
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
or offers a
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
new
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
perspective
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
on the
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, comparison.
The rhyme
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
scheme is
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
GG.
The Anatomy of a Shakespearean Sonnet - mouse over each
part of the sonnet to learn more about its structure.
Shakespeare’s
Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare
sonnets are
numbered, and
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
are
often
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
referred
to by
Rough winds
do shake the darling buds of May,
their
first lines.
And summer's
lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime
So
Sonnettoo18hot the eye of heaven shines,
And also
often be
is his gold complexion dimmed,
can
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
referred
to by
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
saying
“Shall summer
I
But thy eternal
shall not fade,
compare
thee
Nor lose possession
of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor
death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
to
a shall
summer’s
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
day?”
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
The Anatomy of a Shakespearean Sonnet - mouse over each
part of the sonnet to learn more about its structure.
Sonnet 18 by 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 wand'rest 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.
Sonnets are
written in
iambic
pentameter,
which means
every other
syllable is
stressed
(think: I AM a
PIRate WITH
a WOODen
LEG!).