Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

This is the first sentence of the poem and it is

stated as a pretty simple question. William uses the question mark to make the statement into a question that he spend the rest of the sonnet answering.

The next part of the poem is joined with a colon. The colon is used to further explain why she is more lovely than Spring. He says that she doesn't have rough winds like Spring.

There is a comma connecting "May" and "and Summer". The reason for this is to connect the two thoughts with out disregarding the first one. He is connecting the reasons that she is more lovely than the seasons.

Similar to the last colon William is using it to further explain why she is more lovely then the Summer. His reason is that she is not overly hot like the sun can be.

The next two semicolons are used to connect related thoughts about the sun. He is saying that the sun is the the eye of heaven, that is has a gold color, and that it goes down during sunset.

This next comma is used to start a new a thought on the same topic. The new thought starts with him talking about natures path.

After the comma there is a colon. The colon is used to contrast the ever changing nature. He says that unlike nature Summer will never fade because it will always come back.

The next semicolon is used to connect two similar thoughts. The first thought is how the woman/man will never die. The second part of the thought is that Death won't be able to brag about his/her death.

The comma is kind of a carry on to the same thought. Shakespeare is saying that this man/woman will never die in the lines of his poetry.

The colon is used to explain why he/she will never die. He says that this person will never die because they will be forever remembered in his poetry.

The last comma is used to connect the two reason this person will never die. As long as people can read poetry he/she will live forever.

Definitions

owest- Posess

growest- Grow (2nd Person Term)

untrimm'd- Without decoration, with beauty having been taken away

dimm'd- to dim.

Punctuation and Tone

The majority of the poem is a run on structured sentence. This affects the tone and mood of the poem. I say this because the run on sentence makes the sonnet feel laid back and care free. If the poem had short fragments it would have felt like a serious strict poem. Also the commas add pauses to the sonnet therefore making the tone of the sonnet happier and more laid back.

Sonnet 18 Punctuation

Sonnet #18

by: William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: rough winds to shake the darling buds of May, and Summer's least hath all too short a date: sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines; and oft's is his golden complexion dimm'd; and every fair from fair sometimes declines, by chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd: but thy eternal Summer shall not fade thou owest; nor shall Death brag though wanderest in his shade, when in eternal lines to times thou growest: so long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and gives life to thee.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art 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 chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Shakespeare is quite similar to ours, but to fit the rhyme scheme, he uses word change. An example is

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

In the highlighted words are two examples of word change. Also, he does not use "E's" in words normally ending in "ed". Dimm'd and untrimm'd. He just uses apostrophes.

Poetic devices continued

Poetic Devices and Their Purpose

6. There are some uses of personification in the beginning of the sonnet such as "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day."

7. An example of literary allusion is shown, "Nor shall Death brag though wanderest in his shade." This alludes to death bringing people to the darkness.

8. The senses that are evoked are sight and touch that are found on lines 3 and 5, "Rough winds..." "gold complexion dimm'd." These evoke the senses of sight and touch.

9. There is irony found in line 14, Shakespeare says "So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." This shows irony because Shakespeare is saying that the woman will live forever as long as his writing lasts.

1.The Speaker in this sonnet is William Shakespeare and he is addressing a woman in this poem.

2. The Point of View in this sonnet is in the 1st person.

3. The tone of this poem seems like it has a happy tone in the beginning of this sonnet. In the beginning Shakespeare is comparing a woman to a Summer's day and saying that she wont fade. The tone then changes to a more serious tone of voice after line 9 and it changes from a happy to a serious tone.

4.The main metaphor found in this sonnet is Shakespeare comparing the woman to a Summer's day. Another metaphor found in this poem is the eye of heaven which represents the sun.

5.The sound devices that are used in this sonnet are alliteration and consonance. An example of alliteration we found was on lines 7 and 8, "...and every fair from fair sometimes decline." we also found an example of consonance found on line 8, "By chance or by nature's changing course untrimm'd." These literary sound devices help add a better visual description to the sonnet.

"But thy eternal Summer shall not fade"

Structure

Quatrains and Couplets

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The first line in the third quatrain of the sonnet shows the main theme of the poem. Here, Shakespeare is saying that the youth of the subject will never fade, that they will never grow old. This brings up the common theme of immortalizing a person through the poetry written about them, and the love the writer has for them.

The sonnet is a Shakespearean

sonnet which means that the rhyme scheme is ABABCDCDEFEFGG. Each line of the sonnet has an iambic pentameter, this means it has at least ten syllables in each line with and up and down flow.

In the poem they're three quatrains and one couplet,

The first quatrain explains how the author and the woman's time is too short no matter how long they stay together and that she is a nice and comforting person. The second quatrain explains how the woman's beauty makes the sun dim and nature look wild. The third quatrain says that her beauty will never fade even through death. The last two lines of the poem or couplets explains that she will live as long as the poem lives.

"So long lives this, and this gives life to thee"

Key Lines of Sonnet 18

• The final line of the couplet at the end of the sonnet sums up the meaning of the poem once more. "So long lives this" is pertaining to the poem written becoming immortal because people will be reading it centuries later, and writing itself can't actually die.

• "and this gives life to thee" is explaining how the poem gives immortality to the subject, because people read how he was captured in Shakespeare's eyes, as well as the feelings Shakespeare felt to the person.

A couple lines in the sonnet really explain the message and the theme of the poem.

Purpose and Theme

Meaning

The theme of this poem is the often written about idea of immortalizing love. In this case, Shakespeare is immortalizing his love for the subject of the poem by writing about him. The idea of people reading about their love and this person in the future, keeps this person around, even if they're dead.

The purpose of this poem is to immortalize this person and the love Shakespeare has for him.

Allegory in Sonnet 18

In Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare, an allegory (an alterior or double meaning) is present near the end of the poem when he's talking about the poem and the subject living on, when he actually seems to be talking

about the love that Shakespeare and the subject have, lasting and living forever. This alternate meaning is the same as the theme of this poem, immortal love.