Sonnet 18:
Shall I compare thee
to a Summer’s Day?
By William Shakespeare
The Ultimate Love poem?
SONNET
• Poetry form that began in 13th
C. Means ‘little song’ (Italian
sonnetto)
• Shakespeare wrote 154
sonnets!
• Sonnet 18 is his most famous
Shakespearean sonnets:
• 14 lines
• Formed of 12 lines of ABAB/
CDCD/ EFEF ends with a
rhyming couplet GG
• iambic pentameter
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 owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Shakespeare’s BELOVED
‘FAIR YOUTH’
• Sonnets 1-126 - to an unnamed young man, Mr
W.H. Some think it was a nobleman, the Earl of
Southampton (his patron) – but we don’t know.
• Platonic love (? Or not?)
The love I dedicate to
your lordship is without
end ... What I have
done is yours; what I
have to do is yours;
being part in all I have,
devoted yours."
LEFT: Shakespeare
RIGHT: Henry
Wriothesley, Earl of
Southampton.
‘translate’ it into
plain English
Start like this…
• Shall I compare you
to a summer's day?
• You are more lovely
and more constant
• Rough winds shake
the pretty flower
buds in May…
Sonnet in plain
ENGLISH
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At times the sun is too hot,
Or often goes behind the clouds;
And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty
By chance or by nature's planned out course.
But your youthful beauty shall not fade,
Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor will death claim you for his own,
Because in my eternal verse you will live forever.
So long as there are people on this earth,
So long will this poem live on, making you immortal.
Another plain
English version
• Who says you're like one of the dog days?
You're nicer. And better.
Even in May, the weather can be gray,
And a summer sub-let doesn't last forever.
Sometimes the sun's too hot;
Sometimes it is not.
Who can stay young forever?
People break their necks or just drop dead!
But you? Never!
If there's just one condensed reader left
Who can figure out the abridged alphabet,
After you're dead and gone,
• In this poem you'll live on!
(Howard Moss)
COPY / COMPLETE
& CHOOSE THE CORRECT
ANSWER
COMMENTARY
The poet believes his beloved is as lovely as /
lovelier than a Summer’s day. This is because
sometimes summer is [select all those that apply!]
changeable/full of flowers/windy/cloudy/rainy
/wet/hot /too hot/ too short. By line 9 he is
referring to his friend as Death/Eternal Summer,
which shows he sees him as the standard of
beautiful things. He goes onto say that, unlike
the season of summer, his beloved’s beauty will
fade/die/never fade because he will live on in
this poem.
Language features
• Can you find examples
of the following?
• Conceit
• personification
• Metaphor
• Balanced sentences
• Parallel structure
• Use of comparatives
Is it the ultimate
love poem?
Critic James Boyd-White says:
• What kind of love does 'this' in fact give to 'thee'? We know
nothing of the beloved’s form or height or hair or eyes or
bearing, nothing of her character or mind, nothing of her at
all, really.
• This 'love poem' is actually written not in praise of the
beloved, as it seems, but in praise of itself. Death shall not
brag, says the poet; the poet shall brag. This famous sonnet
is on this view one long exercise in self-glorification.
• WHAT DO YOU THINK?
COMPARISON
• If you were to write about this poem in your
exam, which poems would make interesting
comparisons for it? Why?
SONNET PARODY
• Parody = a composition that imitates
somebody's style in a humorous way. IOt is
humorous or satirical mimicry.
• In pairs, have a go at filling in the gaps to
create a parody of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.
• *Remember to keep the iambic pentameter
(5 ‘feet’ per line – or 10 syllables per line)
and the rhyme scheme intact!
Sonnet parody
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Shall I compare thee to a ____________________?
Thou art more ______and ______ ___________.
Rough winds do __________________ __ I'd say,
Which looks ___________ than
______________________________.
Sometime thy ___________eye________into mine
Through ____________________needs be trimm'd,
And ne'er a ________had such a ________as thine,
As though in __________________ thou hast
swimm'd.
Sonnet parody
• Thy ____________ image shall not fade;
• This my ______________mind and __________
doth know.
• O, I should love to _____________ thee ________
___________;
• And with that ____________ I hope that thou
wouldst _______.
• So long as_______ can _____________, _____ eyes
can __________,
• And_______ can ____________, _______ ________
______ ______ thee...
Anthony Baldwin’s
sonnet parody
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Shall I compare thee to a bale of hay?
Thou art more dusty and far less neat.
Rough winds do toss thy mop about, I'd say,
Which looks far worse than hay a horse would eat.
Sometime thy squinty eye looks into mine
Through stringy, greasy hair that needs be trimm'd,
And ne'er a horse had such a stench as thine,
As though in stagnant sewers thou hast swimm'd.
Thy disgusting image shall not fade;
This my tortured mind and soul doth know.
O, I should love to hit thee with a spade;
And with that blow I hope that thou wouldst go.
So long as I can breathe, my eyes can see,
And I can run, I'll stay away from thee...