Shakespeare's Sonnets

There has been some dispute whether or not the sonnets are actually written by William Shakespeare,

the strongest argument for this is the phrase "BY.OVR.EVERLIVING.POET.", in which some, the most notable being the entertainment lawyer and author Bertram Fields, argue that this would mean the author would be dead by 1609, while William Shakespeare lived until 1616.[1]

The 154 poems were most likely written over a period of several years and published in the 1609 collection.

These were all in sonnet form and previously unpublished, with the exception of poem number 138 and 144 which had been part of The Passionate Pilgrim, released in 1599.

Sonnets 18-126 tell the story of young man and the poet's admiration and love for him, while 127-152 are addressed to the poet's mistress. In this essay we will look at sonnets 18, 116 and 130 and what they say about love, and see if they share similarities with each other.[2]

Sonnet XVIII (18)

Sonnet 18 speaks of love in its purest form; it is obvious that the author has great admiration for the person the sonnet is addressed to, giving the subject an almost god-like and eternal status.

If we look at the two first lines:

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:".

It is clear that he cannot use a summer's day as a comparison,

because the person is better than a summer's day.

He goes on to explain how a summer's day is not perfect, saying that:

"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May" and

"And summer's lease hath all to short a date".

This is believed to mean that even a summer's day has its faults, in the start of summer there can be rough storms that distort the beauty of darling buds and summer does not last for ever.

At the end of the sonnet there are some very important lines, which speak of eternal life and beauty:

“But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade”

This can be seen as a promise that he will never die and be forgotten, nor will he lose the beauty which he owns. The last line could be a biblical reference “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”[3], even though death has taken him, his beauty will glow like a beacon and light up any shade death may have cast upon him, thus giving eternal life.