Shakespeare's Sonnet Xviii, Shall I correlate Thee to a Summer's Day?

Shakespeare's sonnets want time and exertion to appreciate. comprehension the numerous meanings of the lines, the crisply made references, the brilliance of the images, and the complexity of the sound, rhythm and buildings of the verse demands attentiveness and experience. The rewards are plentiful as few writers have ever approached the richness of Shakespeare's prose and poetry.

"Sonnet Xviii" is also known as, "Shall I assess Thee to a Summer's Day?" It was written nearby 1599 and published with over 150 other sonnets in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe.

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The first 126 sonnets are written to a youth, a boy, probably about 19, and possibly specifically, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. His initials, W.H., appear in Thorpe's dedication, and the first volume of Shakespeare's plays, published by two of his fellow actors, Herminge and Condell, after Shakespeare's death, was dedicated to William Herbert.

"Sonnet Xviii" is one of the most preponderant of all of Shakespeare's sonnets. It is written in the sonnet style that Shakespeare preferred, 14 lines long with three quatrains (four rhymed lines) and a couplet (a pair of rhymed lines).

The Sonnet praises the youth's charm and disposition, comparing and contrasting the youth to a summer day. Then the sonnet immortalizes the youth straight through the "eternal lines" of the sonnet.

First Quatrain

The first line announces the comparison of the youth with a summer day. But the second line says that the youth is more perfect than a summer day. "More temperate" can be interpreted as more gentle. A summer day can have excesses such as rough winds. In Shakespeare's time May was thought about a summer month, a reference in the third line. The fourth line contains the metaphor that summer holds a lease on the year, but the lease is of a short duration.

Second Quatrain

This quatrain details how the summer can be imperfect, traits that the youth does not possess. The fifth line personifies the sun as "the eye of heaven" which is sometimes too scorchingly hot. On the other hand, "his gold complexion," the face of the sun, can be dimmed by overcast and clouds. agreeing to line 7, all beautiful things (fair means beautiful) sometimes decline from their state of charm or perfection by opening accidents or by natural events. "Untrimmed" in line 8 means a lack of ornament and possibly refers to every charm from line 7.

Third Quatrain

This quatrain explains that the youth will possess eternal charm and perfection. In line 10 "ow'st" is short for ownest, meaning possess. In other words, the youth "shall not lose any of your beauty." Line 11 says that death will not conquer life and may refer to the shades of classical literature (Virgil's Aeneid) who gallivant helplessly in the underworld. In line 12 "eternal lines" refers to the undying lines of the sonnet. Shakespeare realized that the sonnet is able to perform an eternal status, and that one could be immortalized within it.

The Final Couplet

The couplet is easy to interpret. For as long as humans live and breathe on earth with eyes that can see, this is how long these verses will live. And these verses celebrate the youth and continually renew the youth's life.

"Shall I assess Thee" is one of the most often quoted sonnets of Shakespeare. It is complex, yet elegant and memorable, and can be quoted by men and women alike. It has been enjoyed by all generations since Shakespeare and will continue to be enjoyed "so long as men can breathe, or eyes can see."

Sonnet Xviii, Shall I assess Thee?

By William Shakespeare

Shall I assess thee to a Summer's day?

Thou are more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By opening or nature's changing procedure untrimm'd:

But thy eternal Summer shall not fade

Nor lose ownership of that fair thou ow'st;