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Text Bank
Shall I compare thee
William Shakespeare
Sonnet XVIII (1609)
This sonnet closes the sequence on the theme of increase devoted to the ‘fair youth’ and develops
the theme of awareness of the transience of beauty.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art1 more lovely and more temperate:
Rough2 winds do shake the darling buds3 of May,
And summer’s lease4 hath5 all too short a date6:
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Sometime too hot the eye of heaven7 shines,
And often is his gold complexion8 dimmed9,
And every fair10 from fair sometimes declines,
By chance11 or nature’s changing course untrimmed12;
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But thy eternal summer shall not fade13
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest14,
Nor shall Death brag15 thou wander’st16 in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time17 thou growest:
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or eyes can see,
So long as men can
So long lives this, and this19 gives life to thee.
breathe18
COMPREHENSION
1
WHO are the two terms of comparison in the first eight lines?
2
READ the rest of the poem and find out how the poet will make the addressee eternal.
3
MATCH the following sections in the sonnet with the corresponding lines.
1 A question; 2 The answer; 3 The justification to the answer;
4 A promise;
5 The result of the promise.
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Thou art. You are.
Rough. Aspri, violenti.
darling buds. Graziosi boccioli.
lease. Durata.
hath. Has.
date. Scadenza.
the eye of heaven. L’occhio
del scielo, cioè il sole.
complexion. Aspetto, sembiante.
dimmed. Offuscato, velato.
fair. Bellezza.
By chance. Dal caso.
untrimmed. Resa spoglia,
disadorna.
shall not fade. Non svanirà.
thou owest. Che tu possiedi.
shall ... brag. Si vanterà che.
thou wander’st. Tu vaghi.
to time. Nel tempo.
can breathe. Potranno respirare.
this. Questo (sonetto).
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ANALYSIS
4
WRITE down the rhyme scheme.
1 How is the poem organised?
2 Considering the use of punctuation, where does the turning point lie?
5
CIRCLE the personal pronouns and possessive adjectives.
1 Which one prevails?
2 What quality does this feature give the poem? Tick as appropriate.
∏∏ Lyrical.
∏∏ Reflective.
∏∏ Dramatic.
6
FOCUS on the sonnet. It can be divided into two parts:
• lines 1−8 concerning nature and its laws;
• lines 9−14 concerning art and its symbolic order.
What image connects them? What metaphorical meaning does this image acquire
in the second part when referred to the beloved?
7
WHAT qualities are the elements of nature given in the poem? Provide examples
and say how this poetic device is called.
8
DEFINE in this sonnet the poet’s attitude towards Time, one of the main themes
in Shakespeare’s work, and identify the theme of the sonnet.
YOUR TURN
9
DISCUSS the images and feelings you associate with summer with the rest of the class.
Then find your own image to associate with the idea of beauty.