One can believe that the symbol in this sonnet is the summer’s day representing a person that is too passionate like a man. In line 1, “Shall I compare thee to a summer 's day?” (Shakespeare 1). With this quote many can say that Shakespeare “Sonnet 18” will be about how he will compare someone to a summer’s day. One can believe that Shakespeare wrote this about a man due to the word “thee”. Shakespeare uses Old English with most of his work, in addition, Latin word is used in most Old English around the time Shakespeare used it. So, with that most Latin words that end in “e” are represented as masculine. Since Shakespeare used “thee” in his Sonnet one can think that this is to be used as a masculine gesture. In addition, the theme sonnet …show more content…
In addition, another point to the theme, besides love, is death. Toward the end of “Sonnet 18”, Shakespeare informs the audience about the death of the man. Jonathan Hart explores, “the language and imagery of the sonnets, concentrating on the theme death” (Hart). The theme can also show how the symbol, the summer’s day, plays a role in the poem. Shakespeare use the symbol to prove that the life of a man will never end, even though the symbol will go then come back. “Sonnet 18”, in line 9, “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” (Shakespeare 9). This proves that the beauty of man and summer will not fade away either or not time is of the essence. Also, in line 4-5, “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date / Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines” (Shakespeare 4-5). This emphasizes that summer does not last forever, but its sun is hot. Many people believe that the sun during the summer time is the man’s physical feature. Critics believe the overall theme is that Shakespeare is in a love triangle with the man and “Dark Lady.” James Davey states, “Gere we have a love triangle involving Poet, Young Man and “Dark Lady”” (Davey). However, “Sonnet 18” never mentions the beauty of the Lady, nor does it mention her similar to the man. In addition, without the characters in this sonnet, most likely there would not be a …show more content…
Critics believe that the important parts of Shakespeare’s Sonnet are the Dark Lady. Davey states, “What is important here is that the Dark Lady experience seems to have been already passed and absorbed into the Poet 's inner world of hopes and disappointments, of his own understanding of what Love must be on an idealistic level, and what it has been with him on a practical level” (Davey). However, the Dark Lady is not the main character in “Sonnet 18.” It’s mainly about Shakespeare feelings for the man, his beauty and how he is sexually attracted to the man. Daniel Gil states, “It is in relation to the Young Man that Shakespeare experiences the kind of asocial sexuality” (Gil). This provides evidence that Shakespeare wrote this sonnet to prove his overall love and the beauty of mankind. For example, in line, 6, “And often is his gold complexion dimm 'd” (Shakespeare 6). Many may think it shows how Shakespeare is comparing the summer’s sun colors to a man’s complexion. One critic thinks that this line may be talking about an older woman. “The sonnets of Shakespeare, taken as a whole, may be said to form a sonnet sequence: a series of sonnets, usually addressed to a woman for whom the poet has conceived a passion” (Lord). However, some critics may be confused by the author’s problem and what Shakespeare was trying to convince the audience. Shakespeare was stating the beauty
To understand these two sonnets completely, one must first have a little background information concerning the sequence of the Sonnets and William Shakespeare's life. Shakespeare's series of Sonnets can be divided, "into two sections, the first (numbers 1-126) being written to or about a young man, and most of those in the second (numbers 127-154) being written to or about a dark woman" (Wilson 17-8). Because of the autobiographical nature of Shakespeare's Sonnets, these two characters are people from Shakespeare's actual life. The young man is Shakespeare's patron and Shakespeare has a "humble and selfless adoration [that] he feels for his young friend" (Wilson 32). The dark woman is Shakespeare's lover, a woman that infatuates him. These two people provide an emotional contrast for each other and Shakespeare's views on love. When these two meet, they have an affair, "behavior that, as the Poet [Shakespeare] is really deeply in love with the woman, causes him such distress, at times agony, as to introduce a note of tragedy into the series [of sonnets], . . ." (Wilson 33). The affair between the young man and the dark woman is the catalyst for Shakespeare's au...
William Shakespeare's sonnets deal with two very distinct individuals: the blond young man and the mysterious dark-haired woman. The young man is the focus of the earlier numbered sonnets while the latter ones deal primarily with the dark-haired woman. The character of the young man and a seductive mistress are brought together under passionate circumstances in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 42." The sexual prowess of the mistress entangles both Shakespeare and the young man in her web of flesh. This triangular sonnet brings out Shakespeare's affection for both individuals. His narcissistic ideal of delusional love for the young man is shown through diction and imagery, metrical variation and voice, contained in three quatrains and one couplet.
This is an enjoyable sonnet that uses nature imagery, found extensively in Petrarca, that Shakespeare uses to get his point across. Not much explication is needed, aside the sustained images of nature, to fully understand its intent, but I would like to point out a peculiar allusion. When reading line 3, "the violet past prime" has made me think of Venus and Adonis. In the end, Adonis melts into the earth and a violet sprouts where his body was, which Venus then places in her heart, signifying the love she has for him. Reading this into the poem makes the few following lines more significant. Having Adonis portrayed as the handsome youth, Shakespeare is alluding to the death of youth (in general and to the young man) through the sonnet. In the next line, it is not certain if "sable" is an adjective or a noun and if "curls" is a noun, referring to hair (which is plausible) or a verb modifying "sable." Invoking the allusion to Adonis here, Shakespeare portends that if Adonis did live longer, he too would have greying hair; thus, Shakespeare sees ["behold"] an Adonis figure, the young man, past his youth.
That means, the approaches of poet’s love remain the same. In one place, he portrays beauty as conveying a great responsibility in the sonnets addressed to the young man. The poet has experienced what he thinks of as "the marriage of true minds," also known as true love, that his love remains strong, and that he believes that it’s eternal. Nothing will stop their love, as in the symbols like all the ships, stars and stormy seas that fill the landscape of the poem and so on what can affect to their love. The poet is too much attracted with the young man’s beauty, though this indicates to something really bad behavior. But in another place, Shakespeare makes fun of the dark lady in sonnet 130. He explains that his lover, the dark lady, has wires for hair, bad breath, dull cleavage, a heavy step, pale lips and so on, but to him, real love is, the sonnet implies, begins when we accept our lovers for what they are as well as what they are not. But other critics may not agree with this and to them, beauty may define to something
Shakespeare’s themes are mostly conventional topics, such as love and beauty. Nevertheless, Shakespeare presents these themes in his own unique fashion, most notably by addressing the poems of beauty not to a fair maiden, but instead to a young man: ‘‘shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate” (book). Shakespeare points out that the youth’s beauty is more perfect then the beauty of a summer day. It is also “more temperate”, in other words more gentle, more restrained whereas the summer’s day might have violent excesses in store. At first glance of sonnet 18, it’s pretty much certain that one would think Shakespeare is referring to a woman, not a man. The idea of a man describing another man with such choice of words is always seen with a different eye. Several even stated that Shakespeare is homosexual. Whichever the case may be, Shakespeare painted beauty in the most original matter. He dared to do what everybody else didn’t, or maybe feared to, and accomplished his goal with flying colors. Besides, in his sonnets, Shakespeare states that the young man was made for a woman and urges the man to marry so he can pass on h...
has the gentle heart of a woman but is not inconsistent as is the way
In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, also known as “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” represents and discusses the love and beauty of his beloved. Also, the speaker refers to his love more sweet, temperate, and fair than all the beauty that he can see in nature. He also speaks how the sun can be dim and that nature’s beauty is random: “And often is his gold complexion dimm’d / And every fair from fair sometimes declines” (6-7). At the end of the poem the speaker explains that they beauty of the person that is being mentioned is not so short because, his love with live as long as people are still reading this sonnet. The beauty of his beloved with last longer than nature, because although nature is beautiful flowers and other things still have to die: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see / so long lives this and this gives life to thee” (13-14) Also, the speaker is comparing his love to a summer’s day, but does not really say anything specific or that the qualities given to his beloved are more superior to a summer’s day, which can allow the reader to understand that his beloved can stay young, beautiful, and never going to die.
In this sonnet, Shakespeare is creating a mental picture of spring and summer to compare against his loved one. He uses the fact that fine and beautiful days are the creation of nature, and nature is constantly changing all the time. Fine days never stay the same: 'rough winds' or the sun obscured by clouds, 'and often is his gold complexion dim'd', can easily mar a fine day. He talks about these negative factors of change in the first eight lines, and Shakespeare then uses these ideas to claim that his loved one will always remain untarnished, speaking of how 'thy eternal summer shall not fade' and how his loved one has lasting qualities that will outshine death: 'Nor shall death brag thou wandr'st in his shade' These thoughts come to a confident, final... ... middle of paper ... ...
In the second quatrain, the lover grants to Time its own will: "And do whate'er
William Shakespeare was an excellent writer, who throughout his life created well written pieces of literatures which are valued and learned about in modern times. One of his many works are 154 Sonnets, within these Sonnets there are several people Shakespeare “writes to”, such as fair youth, dark lady and rival poet. Sonnet 20 is written to fair youth, or in other words a young man. The idea of homosexuality appears in Sonnet 20 after the speaker admits his love towards the young man.
This sonnet is an anti-love poem that ironically shows how the fairness of a lady is contingent upon nature's blessings and her external manifestations. The Spenserian style brings unity to this sonnet, in that it's theme and rhyme is interwoven throughout, but the focus of her "fairness" is divided into an octave and a sestet. The first eight lines praise her physical features (hair, cheeks, smile), while the last six lines praise her internal features (words, spirit, heart). This sonnet intentionally hides the speaker's ridicule behind counterfeit love-language, using phrases like: "fair golden hairs" (line 1), and "rose in her red cheeks" (line 3), and "her eyes the fire of love does spark" (line 4). This traditional love language fills pages of literature and song, and has conventionally been used to praise the attributes of a lover; but this sonnet betrays such language by exhibiting a critique rather than commendation. This sonnet appears to praise the beauty of a lady but ironically ridicules her by declaring that her "fairness" is contingent upon nature, physical features, and displaying a gentle spirit, which hides her pride.
At the time of its writing, Shakespeare's one hundred thirtieth sonnet, a highly candid, simple work, introduced a new era of poems. Shakespeare's expression of love was far different from traditional sonnets in the early 1600s, in which poets highly praised their loved ones with sweet words. Instead, Shakespeare satirizes the tradition of comparing one's beloved to the beauties of the sun. From its opening phrase "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun", shocks the audience because it does not portray a soft, beautiful woman. Despite the negative connotations of his mistress, Shakespeare speaks a true woman and true love. The sonnet is a "how-to" guide to love.
In William Shakespeare’s sonnet “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” the audience is introduced to a poem in which he himself goes into depth about the person he is infatuated with. The author does not give any type of hints telling the audience who the poem is towards because it can be for both male and female. That’s the interesting part about William Shakespeare’s work which is to second hand guess yourself and thinking otherwise. Making you think and think rational when you read his work. The sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summers day” is one of his most famous and published poem. Shakespeare’s tone of voice at the commence of the poem is somewhat relaxed and joyful because he is going on talking about the person he is intrigued by. Throughout the passage Metaphors, similes and imagery can all be found in the poem itself
Reading the poem once or twice may cause a reader to suggest that these two poems have the same mood. While both poems have a reference to a woman, they also vary in some ways. In “Sonnet 18,” the tone is all about love and the affection that Shakespeare has for his women. For example, Shakespeare compares a summer day to his women and says that she is “more lovely” and “more temperate.” The main reason he writes this poem is to
Shakespeare addresses his first 126 sonnets to the same fair man. Sonnet 18, by far one of the most famous of Shakespeare's sonnets, was written to illustrate his love and adoration for the man. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate" (18.1-2). The first few lines of this sonnet place vivid images in the readers mind about a beautiful and sweet tempered person. Most readers be...