SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY

William Shakespeare

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".

Born: April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, UKDied: April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon, UKSpouse: Anne Hathaway(m. 1582–1616)

His work: 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and a few other verses, the authorship. His plays have been translated into every majorliving language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

TYPE AND STRUCTURE

• Lyrical poem – Shakespearean Sonnet/English Sonnet

3 quatrains: abab, cdcd, efef1 rhyming couplet

• Aspects of Italian Sonnet - Volta

LINE 1

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

you

METAPHOR:Compares lover to the beauty of a summer’s day

RHETORICAL QUESTION:The explanation to follow

LINE 2

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

You are You are more beautiful than any summer’s day

•Not overcome with passion•Mild tempreture

PUN (play on words, usually for a comic reception.)

LINE 3

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

PERSONIFICATION:Darling is a term used to describe a person you love/like. The flower blossoms are lovely.

The start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere

Flower blossom

His lover is still young

LINE 4

And summer's lease hath all too short a date.hascontract

PERSONIFICATION:Summer cannot lease any property.

METAPHOR:Weather as rentable property.

Summer is too shortLove/passion can be over too quickly

LINE 5 + 6

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

The sun

Love/passion can sometimes be too much but can also be over too quickly/fade.

Dimmed - fade

The clouds move infront of the sunLove fades

LINE 7 + 8

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

beauty

The beauty of everything beautiful will fade

1. Your beauty will fade due to chance (an unpredictable event or accident)

2. Old age

PROBLEM:Everything is going to fade

LINE 9

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

your

Your beauty and youth will not fade

METAPHOR:Youth and beauty

forever

Volta – turn in argument

LINE 10 + 11

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade

You will not lose the beauty you already have

you

own

Death will not claim you – you will live forever

METAPHOR:AfterlifePERSONIFICATION you

LINE 12

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:

METAPHOR:poetry you

Lover would stay beautiful as long as the poem is read

LINE 13 + 14

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee

Rhyming couplet

English/Shakespearian sonnet1. 14 lines2. Rhyming couplet

you

As long as there are people on earth that can see and read, so long you will live in the lines of this poem – making you immortal.