Sonnet 18 explanation line by line
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? Explanation
a) Thou art more lovely
and more temperate:
Explanation: Summer is similar to a lease that has a short duration.
b) Rough winds do shake
the darling buds of May
Explanation: The poet personifies death as a wandering entity
that moves around his ‘shade.’ This comparison
implies that the poet’s beloved is above all a living
being and even natural phenomena.
c) And summer’s lease
hath all too short a date
Explanation: The poet compares the harshness /cruelty of summer weather with the delicate/soft spring flowers,
which are suffering under the summer’s heat.
d) Sometime too hot the
eye of heaven shines,
e) And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
Explanation: The line tells us that Shakespeare’s beloved is lovelier and her beauty is milder than that of a summer day.
f) And every fair from fair sometime declines,
g) By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
Explanation: The poet says that his friend’s beauty surpasses that of a summer day. Unlike things that are considered ‘fair’ or beautiful, which are subject to decline, his friend’s beauty will remain the same even in the face of death.
h) But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
i) Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Explanation: The poet implies that his poetry will be eternal, as he asserts that his beloved’s beauty will endure as long as his poem survives.
j) Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
k) When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
Explanation: The speaker is stating that all beautiful things will eventually lose their charm, either by chance or by the natural flow of time.
l) So long as men can
breathe or eyes can see,
m) So long lives this, and
this gives life to thee.
Explanation: Here the speaker describes the sun’s varying behaviour. At times, the sun may be scorching hot,
while at other times it may be completely hidden
from view.
