William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

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William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? a Thou art more lovely and more temperate: b Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, a And summer's lease hath all too short a date: b Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines c And often is his gold complexion dimmed, d And every fair from fair sometimes declines, c By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; d But thy eternal summer shall not fade, e Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; f Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, e When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: f So long as man can breathe, or eyes can see, g So long lives this and this gives life to thee g 3 Sentences: 1st sentence: line 1 2nd sentence: lines 2 - 8 3rd sentence: lines 9 - 14 This is a Shakespearean sonnet with no characteristics of a Petrarchan sonnet. GLOSSARY Temperate moderate Darling very dear Lease the term during which possession is guaranteed Date the time during which something lasts Complexion colour, visible aspect, appearance To decline to diminish, decrease, deteriorate Untrimmed not carefully or neatly arranged or attired Fair beauty, fairness, good looks Eternal infinite in past and future duration, without beginning or end To brag to declare or assert boastfully 'SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER'S DAY' Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare is one of the sonnets that describe the outstanding beauty of an unspecified lover and time as a relentless ravisher with no mercy for anyone or anything. The only way to defy time is to become immortal in verse. The persona is the "I" in line 1 and he (Shakespeare himself?) is addressing a person (a him or a her) whom he adores. The description of the beauty of the unknown lover is the central idae throughout the sonnet and the element of time makes its first appearance in line 4 where it says "And summer's lease hath all too short a date". This signifies the limited time during which the positive qualities of summer are at their best. The beauty is described in the shape of an answer to the question posed in the first line: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

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