AN OVERVIEW OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S "SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO

A SUMMER'S DAY?"

Sonnet 18, or as famously known as "Shall I Compare thee to a Summer's Day" is one of the
best-known of the 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William
Shakespeare. The poem is part of the Fair Youth sequence (which comprises sonnets 1–126).
It is also the first of the cycle after the opening sequence now described as the procreation
sonnets. Sonnet 18 is an example of typical English or Shakespearean sonnet written in
iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, consisting of 14 lines,
written in three quatrains, followed by a couplet. The poem reflects the ideals of an Italian
sonnet or as better known as Petrarchan sonnet, after famous poet Francesco Petrarca.
Petrarchan sonnets typically discussed the love and beauty of a beloved, often an unattainable
love, but not always. It also contains a volta, or shift in the poem's subject matter, beginning
with the third quatrain. The poem was likely written in the 1590s, though it was not published
until 1609.

William Shakespeare (26 April 1564-23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and
actor. Regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and one of the most
prominent dramatists, Shakespeare is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of
Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39
plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain
authorship. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his
works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare produced most of his known
works between 1589 and 1613.

In this sonnet, the poet considers the beauty of his lover superior to the beauty of nature,
because the beauty of nature changes with time and it is temporary in character, but the youth
and beauty of his lover is permanent. The poet starts the poem asking a rhetorical question, if
he should compare his lover to a summer's day. But then in the next line he says that his lover
is far more lovely than a summer's day, because summer days are short in span and it changes
overtime, but the lover's youth is everlasting. Everything materialistic in nature is subjective
to the spinning wheel of time and the law of decay. But the beauty and youth of his lover is a
permanent possession, and it would not be subjected to the changing course of time.
Summer's beauty is a tenant of time. It is inferior to the permanence of the possessed beauty
of his lover. The poet further states that even death cannot take away the beauty and youth of
his lover. Everything perishes and fades with death. But his lover's beauty will not be
subjected to the claws of death. Even death cannot claim the beauty and youth of his lover,
for it will be immortalised in the poetry that the poet wrote for them. The power of poetry
will defeat the power of the impending fate that is brought upon by time and death.

This poem not only celebrates the lover and their beauty and youth, but it also triumphs over
the power of art, more precisely, the power of poetry to over rule the impending doom of
death and decay that the changing course of time brings upon the elements of nature. Time is
regarded as the biggest friend and the greatest enemy of mortal beings, for it heals oneself,
but also destroys. However, time cannot be an enemy to the poet's lover and their fair youth,
because not even the spinning wheel of time has the power to fade away the eternal beauty of
the lover. Time would rather preserve and celebrate the fair youth of the poet's lover, through
the verses that the poet penned down in the honour of his lover's beauty and youth.

WORK CITATIONS

“Sonnet 18.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Oct. 2022,

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_18.

“William Shakespeare.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Dec. 2022,

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare.

LitCharts. “Sonnet 18 Summary & Analysis by William Shakespeare.” LitCharts,

www.litcharts.com/poetry/william-shakespeare/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summer-
s-day.