Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: You are more lovely and more constant:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: And summer is far too short:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, At times the sun is too hot,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; Or often goes behind the clouds;
And every fair from fair sometime declines, And everything beautiful sometime will lose its
beauty,
By chance, or nature's changing course, By misfortune or by nature's planned out
untrimm'd; course.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade But your youth shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his Nor will death claim you for his own,
shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; Because in my eternal verse you will live
forever.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long as there are people on this earth,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee. So long will this poem live on, making you
immortal.

Summary: Sonnet 18
The speaker opens the poem with a question addressed to the beloved: “Shall I compare thee to a
summer’s day?” The next eleven lines are devoted to such a comparison. In line 2, the speaker
stipulates what mainly differentiates the young man from the summer’s day: he is “more lovely
and more temperate.” Summer’s days tend toward extremes: they are shaken by “rough winds”;
in them, the sun (“the eye of heaven”) often shines “too hot,” or too dim. And summer is
fleeting: its date is too short, and it leads to the withering of autumn, as “every fair from fair
sometime declines.” The final quatrain of the sonnet tells how the beloved differs from the
summer in that respect: his beauty will last forever (“Thy eternal summer shall not fade...”) and
never die. In the couplet, the speaker explains how the beloved’s beauty will accomplish this
feat, and not perish because it is preserved in the poem, which will last forever; it will live “as
long as men can breathe or eyes can see.”

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 is part of a group of 126 sonnets Shakespeare wrote

that are addressed to a young man of great beauty and promise. In this group of sonnets, the
speaker urges the young man to marry and perpetuate his virtues through children, and warns
him about the destructive power of time, age, and moral weakness. Sonnet 18 focuses on the
beauty of the young man, and how beauty fades, but his beauty will not because it will be
remembered by everyone who reads this poem.

Shakespeare starts the poem with a metaphoric question in line one asking if he should
compare the man to a summers day. This asks if he should compare the beauty of a summers day
to the beauty of the young man about whom Shakespeare is writing. Line two of this poem states
"Thou art more lovely and more temperate." Temperate is used as a synonym for moderate by
the author. In line two the speaker is describing the man as more lovely and more moderate than
a summers day. This emphasizes the mans beauty and how the man is viewed by the speaker.
Line three, "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May," tells why the mans beauty is
greater than that of a summers day. Shakespeare uses "rough winds" to symbolize imperfections.

The speaker is implying that there are no imperfections in the young man, but there are in
the summer, so the man cannot be compared to a summers day. In line four the speaker adds to
this thought by saying that the summer also does not last as long as the mans beauty therefore it
cannot be compared to it. Line five states another imperfection of the summer. Shakespeare uses
"the eye of heaven" as a metaphor in this line to describe the sun. In line six Shakespeare uses
the phrase "gold complexion dimmed" to describe the sun again which means that sometimes the
sun is not hot enough, and that, as said in line five, sometimes the sun is too hot.

THEMES

1. IMMORTALITY, THE POWER TO DEFY TIME , carrying the beauty of the

beloved to future generations
In the sonnet Shakespeare begins by comparing the subject a summer’s day. Yet a summer’s day
is something that doesn’t last and will eventually fade, just like the subject in her mortality. But
through this sonnet, Shakespeare is saying he will make her immortal, as the timelessness of the
poem will not fade, therefore people will read of, and therefore know, the subject forever. Or at
least as long as people are around.

Sonnet 18 seeks to offer the subject immortality, and protect them from the ravages of time and
death. He’s basically saying that the subject will be loved as long as those who love them are sill
alive. “as long as eyes can see’ The poem also promises protection against the ravages of time,
“thy eternal summer shall not fade”.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ROMANTIC LOVE

the eternal nature of art, the temporary nature of beauty

Sonnet 18 is a statement of praise of the beauty against the changing nature and the passing of
time. The ,,procreation,, sequence(first 126 sonnets) ended with the speaker’s realization that the
young man might not need children to preserve his beauty, he could also live, the speaker writes
at the end of sonnet 17 “in my rhyme”. The beloved’s “eternal summer” shall not fade because it
is embodied in the sonnet:”so long as men can breathe or eyes can see”, the speaker writes in the
couplet “ so long lives this, and this gives life to thee”.

The speaker of Sonnet 18 is absolutely fixated on fate and mortality, but believes he’s come up
with an effective time machine: poetry. Instead of contemplating a beautiful summer’s day, this
speaker can’t stop thinking about how everything in life is temporary and fleeting. No need to
fear, though – the hero-poet steps in and announces that, by artistically representing his beloved,
he can save him or her from the ravages of time. "Time," then, is the intersection of the
"Literature and Writing" theme and the "Man and the Natural World" theme. Man, in the natural
world, can’t avoid being subject to time, but it is through literature, the poet argues, that he can
free himself.
3. THEME OF MAN AND THE NATURAL WORLD

On one level, Sonnet 18 is clearly concerned with the relationship between man and the eventual,
inescapable death he’ll encounter in nature. On another level, the poet also seems fascinated by
the relationship between seasonal weather and personal, internal "weather" and balance. There’s
a lot of imagery revolving around light and vision in the poem ("eye," "shines," "fade," "shade,"
and "see").

Symbolism - the entire poem itself represents Shakespeare’s desire to immortalize the person he
speaks of through poetry

From the beginning of the poem, the speaker tries to set up a contrast between the beloved and a
summer’s day. He tries really hard to distinguish them, ultimately arguing that the beloved,
unlike nature, will be saved by the force and permanence of his poetry. The thing is, the contrast
doesn’t really work, since summer, if anything, seems much more eternal than the beloved. If
being written about preserves immortality, then the summer ought to be immortal because the
speaker’s writing about it as well. And then there’s the fact that summer actually is, in some
sense, immortal, since it returns in full force every year.

 Line 1: This is a rhetorical question, as the speaker definitely doesn’t care how or
whether we answer him, and it also introduces what will be the main metaphor of the
poem, as the summer’s day will be discussed using concepts more literally applicable to
the beloved than to summer itself.
 Line 2: "Temperate" is a pun, since it carries two important meanings here. When applied
to the beloved, it means "showing moderation or self-restraint," but when applied to the
summer’s day it means, "having mild temperatures."
 Lines 3-4: This is all personification here. Even if winds might really be able to "shake"
things, and buds could be described as "darling," these are both words more often applied
to human actions. The next line is a much more obvious case of personification, as
summer can’t literally take out a lease on anything. Note also that this implies a metaphor
of the weather as a rentable property. Also, the "darling buds" introduce an extended
 metaphor of plant life and the conditions needed to sustain life that runs through the rest
of the poem
 Lines 5-6: There’s the apparent opposition here, in that sometimes the weather is too hot,
and sometimes it’s too cold. But there’s also personification with "eye" and
"complexion." What’s more, "complexion" doesn’t just mean the appearance of the face,
but also had a second meaning in Shakespeare’s time, referring to someone’s general
internal well-being. Note also that the plant life extended metaphor is continued in
"shines" and "dimm’d," since plants need light in order to flourish.
 Line 9: Here the personification is inverted: instead of describing nature in human terms,
the speaker is describing the beloved in the terms of nature, giving him or her an "eternal
summer" which could not literally apply.
 Line 11: "Shade" makes for a continuation of the plant life extended metaphor, since if
you’re a plant stuck in the shade, that’s some bad news. "Shade" is also a pun, because it
can mean "ghost."
 Line 12: The plant life extended metaphor is completed, as the speaker finally points out
a way that plants can "grow," instead of all of these problems they faced in previous lines
of the poem. Now what is this way? Well, perhaps aside from suggesting poetry, "lines to
time" could also conjure up an image of plants lined up in rows in a farm. In other words,
plants need to be organized and cultivated by humans in order to survive. This works
really well with the main theme in the rest of the poem: that the beloved needs to be
organized and developed by the poet in order to survive.

STYLE

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May/ Nor shall Death brag - personification, human
characteristics among inanimate objects
“thy eternal summer/ when in etrnal lines to time thou growest”- as peak of smn’s life/loveliness-
metaphor-a direct comparison
Hyperbole-an exaggeration of an idea- it is deemed that the whole sonnet is an expression of
exaggeration
Alliteration: So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Repetition: so long/ fair

RHYME SCHEME:ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

METER AND LENGTH: iambic pentameter

MOTIFS:

1. Art vs time: through art, nature and beauty overcome time. The sonnet uses the season to
symbolize the passage of time and to show that everything in nature –from plants to
people- is mortal. But nature creates beauty, which poets capture and render immortal in
their verse.
 SONNET 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red; Coral is far more red than her lips;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If snow is white, then her breasts are a
brownish gray;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. If hairs are like wires, hers are black and not
golden.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, I have seen damask roses, red and white
[streaked],
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; But I do not see such colors in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight And some perfumes give more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. Than the horrid breath of my mistress.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know I love to hear her speak, but I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound; That music has a more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go; I've never seen a goddess walk;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the But I know that my mistress walks only on the
ground: ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare And yet I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare. As any woman who has been misrepresented
by ridiculous comparisons.

The rhetorical structure of Sonnet 130 is important to its effect. In the first quatrain, the speaker
spends one line on each comparison between his mistress and something else (the sun, coral,
snow, and wires—the one positive thing in the whole poem some part of his mistress is like. In
the second and third quatrains, he expands the descriptions to occupy two lines each, so that
roses/cheeks, perfume/breath, music/voice, and goddess/mistress each receive a pair of
unrhymed lines. When Shakespeare was writing this sonnet it was all the rage to compare a
lover's eyes to the sun and sunlight - Shakespeare completely negates this, using the phrase
'nothing like' to emphasise the fact that this female's eyes are not bright. They were, according to
a line in sonnet 127, raven black.

THEMES

Love
To put it simply, the theme is that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".'Sonnet 130'
takes the love poem to a deeper, more intimate level where looks are no longer important and it
is inner beauty that matters. Shakespeare paints this picture using a wonderful Combination of
metaphors and a simile.
For, the speaker loves his mistress just as much as the others love their beauties
because beauty is subjective. The subject matter of the poem is, simply, the speaker's mistress
and the speaker's love for her. Most sonnets are written about love, but they often make use of
unrealistic comparisons meant to flatter the subject and beautify the writing. A typical sonnet,
then, would never discuss a woman's lack of rosy cheeks, her bad breath, or the dullness of her
skin. This poem, and this speaker, however, are quite different.
The speaker does not draw implausible comparisons meant to flatter a lover. In fact, he
specifically says that she cannot compare favorably to the sun, coral, snow, or roses. But this is
what makes this poem special: he thinks his love is as rare and special as any in which these
comparisons are used to describe the lover's beauty. The speaker doesn't need to idealize his
lover. This leads us to the theme that true love doesn't require false comparisons; it is enough to
stand on its own.

Appearances

is a major theme in Sonnet 130, since our speaker spends a lot of the poem talking about what's
wrong with his mistress's looks. He does a pretty complete dissection of her face, her body, and
her smell. He doesn't say anything at all about her personality, but instead sticks to his laundry
list of problems with her appearance.

In Sonnet 130, the theme "Women and Femininity" is connected to the idea of appearances.
This poem is all about female beauty and our expectations and stereotypes about the way women
ought to look. Essentially, the speaker in this poem is pointing out that love poetry does the same
thing. It makes women into goddesses, not real human beings. He insists that his idea of
beautiful femininity doesn't depend on fitting an abstract, unrealistic fantasy. Whereas
conventional love sonnets by other poets make their women into goddesses, in Sonnet 130 the
poet is merely amused by his own attempt to deify his dark mistress. Cynically he states, "I grant
I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground."

Analysis

PARODY: A parody imitates the work of another author, usually with the intention of ridiculing
it. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 is a parody of a form poetry which was popular in Elizabethan
England. The Petrarchan love sonnet, in which a poet compared his lover to natural beauties, was
named after the fourteenth-century Italian poet who wrote a series of love sonnets for his
beloved.In S130 he chooses to make fun of it.

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” is thematically
an anti-Petrarchan sonnet, that satirizes the conventions of the traditional Italian sonnet by
inverting the similes normally used within the Petrarchan conventions. Its subject is the beauties
of his mistress, but unlike the Italianate poets who would say her lips are like coral and her
breasts like snow, uses a sort of via negativa, saying that such comparisons would be false, in
order to evoke in the reader’s mind the real beauties of an actual woman. The final couplet
makes obvious that he really is praising rather than denigrating his mistress.

FORM

Sonnet 130 is a Shakespearean sonnet of 14 lines made up of 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet,
which binds everything together and draws a conclusion to what has gone before.

The rhyme scheme is typical: abab cdcd efef gg and all the end rhymes are full, for
example white/delight and rare/compare.

Metre (meter in American English)

The dominant metre is iambic pentameter, five iambic feet per line, non-stressed syllable
followed by a stressed in daDUM daDUM fashion. However, there are lines which differ from
this steady, plodding beat.

Let's look at the whole sonnet:

My mis / tress' eyes / are noth / ing like / the sun;

Coral / is far / more red / than her / lips' red;
If snow / be white, / why then / her breasts / are dun;
If hairs / be wires, / black wires / grow on / her head.
I have / seen ro / ses dam / asked, red / and white,
But no / such ro / ses see / I in / her cheeks;
And in / some per / fumes is / there more / delight
Than in / the breath / that from / my mis / tress reeks.
I love / to hear / her speak, / yet well / I know
That mu / sic hath / a far / more plea / sing sound;
I grant / I nev / er saw / a god / dess go;
My mis / tress, when / she walks, / treads on / the ground.
And yet, / by heaven, / I think / my love / as rare
As an / y she / belied / with false / compare.

Iambic pentameter dominates this sonnet and there are a total of 10 purely iambic lines :
1,6,7,8,9,10,11,13 and 14.

Of these, lines 1,6,7,8,10,11 and 14 are unpunctuated, allowing the rhythm to flow.

Line 2 begins with an inverted iambic foot - a trochee - with the stress on the first syllable, which
alters the flow somewhat before the iambic beat takes over.

Line 3 is ambiguous. Some scan it as purely iambic, others find an inverted iamb - a trochee -
after the comma: If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun.

Line 4 is also not straightforward. There are a possible two trochees after the comma:
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

Line 5 begins with an inverted iamb - a trochee - placing emphasis on the first person I.
Line 12 begins with a strong spondee - two stressed syllables - which reinforces the personal
again.

LITERARY DEVICES

Sonnet 130 contains several literary devices that enhance the texture of the sound and reinforce
certain tropes. For example:

Alliteration

When words beginning with the same consonants are close together in a phrase or line, as in
lines:

1 - My mistress

3 - white, why

4 - wires, black wires

5 - roses damasked, red

6 - such roses see

8 - Than in the breath that

9 - hear her

11 - grant....goddess go

12 - My mistress, when she walks

Assonance

When the same or similar vowels in words are close together in a line or phrase, as in lines:

1 - My/eyes/like

2. Coral/more

3 - then/breasts
4.- hairs/her

5 - have/damasked

6 - see/cheeks

7 - in/is/delight

8 - Than/that

9 - hear/speak....yet well

10 - That/hath

13 - yet/heaven

Repetition

Repeating words or phrases strengthens meaning and places special emphasis on them. For
example, the word red occurs twice in the second line, as does wires in the fourth.

Note the use of the phrase far more in lines 2 and 10 which underlines the importance of the
colour red and sound of music, making them stand out from the crowd. The speaker (the poet) is
again implying the ordinariness of his lover's looks and voice.

This sonnet is very much an individual's take on the beauty of their mistress. Written from a first
person perspective, I and My occur 11 times.

SYMBOLS

1. THE MISTRESS: She's definitely the star of this show. Every line refers to her, whether
it's describing her appearance or her smell or the way she walks. We learn a few things
about her, like the color of her hair and her skin. In general, though, she's a little more
like an idea than a real person. Instead of being a fully drawn character
like Hamlet or Juliet, she is mostly here to give the poet a chance to poke fun at
exaggerated love poetry.
 Eyes - Line 1: We start out with the speaker refusing to compare his lover's eyes to the
sun. He picks a really out-there, exaggerated simile so that we can see just how silly this
kind of comparison can be. So really, this is a negative simile: "x is not like y."

 Lips Line 2: Comparing lips to red coral gives us another slightly ridiculous over-the-top
simile. Lips that red would have to be painted, and that's the kind of fake beauty that this
poem is pushing back against.

2. Cheeks- If the ideal woman in Shakespeare's time was supposed to have skin as white as
snow and smooth and blond hair, then her cheeks are probably going to have to be pink
and rosy too.

 Breasts- For obvious reasons, breasts are a classic symbol of female beauty. Line 3: Here
the speaker avoids a direct simile. He just gives us the strong image of sparkling white
snow, and lays it next to the equally strong image of dun (grayish-brown) breasts. He's
playing with our associations with these colors. White is a long-standing symbol of
purity, cleanliness, virginity, and all that Next to that squeaky clean image, the mistress's
breasts seem dirty and polluted. But the speaker will go on to show us that these old
stereotypes might not really mean much at all.

 Voice - Lines 9-10: As always, the speaker rejects the obvious simile ("her voice is like
music"), but this time he's being a little nicer he loves the sound of her voice. He just
thinks that comparing her voice to music is going too far.