Hannah R. Meekins
AP Literature
B. Vogt
9/24/10
“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” TPCASTT
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.
Title
Paraphrase
Connotation
Attitude
Shifts
Title
The title suggests that the author will be showing his affection for the
subject and saying positive things about them. By comparing to a
summer’s day, the reader assumes that the author will be using warm,
loving comparisons.
You are lovelier and more bearable than the heat of the summer. The
rough summer winds shake away all the pretty spring blossoms.
Summer is too short and too hot. Your beauty is beauty that will last,
unlike the short lasting beauty of summer. You will remain beautiful
for all of time.
Shakespeare uses imagery and metaphors to compare summer to
negative things. He glorifies his beloved by saying she is much more
pleasing and beautiful than the short lived summer. The details used
in the sonnet, emphasize the negative aspects of summer which
Shakespeare wishes to point out his beloved does not possess.
The speaker possesses an adoring attitude. He even has hints of
bragging or pride, that his beloved is much greater than a summer’s
day.
The speaker shifts from listing negative things about summer and
having a drab, almost annoyed tone to a love, proud tone telling of his
beloved’s greatness and beauty.
The title somewhat misleads the reader to believe that the author will
compare his beloved to the lovely aspects of a summer’s day. Instead
the author points out the negatives of a summer’s day and tells how
Hannah R. Meekins
AP Literature
B. Vogt
9/24/10
his beloved is better than any short lasting summer’s day.
The overall theme of the sonnet is that Shakespeare’s beloved is
Theme
greater than any summer’s day, more beautiful, long-lasting, and
more temperate.