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Figurative Language in Sonnet 18 |

Metaphor, Imagery & Others
Contributors: Kenli Doss, Angela Janovsky

Understand the !gurative language in "Sonnet 18" by

Shakespeare. Review the various literary devices, including
metaphors, personi!cation, and imagery, in "Sonnet 18."
Updated: 11/21/2023

Table of Contents

 "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare

 Figurative Language in "Sonnet 18"

 Lesson Summary

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an example of personi!cation in

Sonnet 18?
Shakespeare personi!es death itself. He
capitalizes the word to act as a proper noun
and claims the !gure brags, a human attribute.

What !gurative language is used in

"Sonnet 18?"
Shakespeare uses many di"erent literary
devices, or types of !gurative language, in his
poem. Some of the most notable include his
use of metaphor and imagery to paint the
summer's day and compare his intended
reader to said day.

Which line from "Sonnet 18" contains a

metaphor?
Nearly every line in "Sonnet 18" includes a
metaphor. The most important, though, is the
!rst line, which sets up the metaphor for the
entire poem.

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"Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare 

Famous playwright William Shakespeare was
responsible for writing 154 sonnets, all of which are
unnamed. In writing these sonnets, he created his
own form of the poem, which is today called the
Shakespearean sonnet. While most Shakespearean
sonnets include some theme of love or romance,
all follow a speci!c model and must include three
aspects.

Rhyme- Shakespearean sonnets follow an ABAB

CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme, always ending in a
couplet (two rhyming lines of verse).

Length- The sonnets are 14 lines long. This

includes three four-line stanzas and an ending
couplet.

Meter- All Shakespearean sonnets are written in

iambic pentameter. This means there are ten
syllables in each line broken down into !ve "feet," or
pairs. Lines sometimes have a "feminine ending"
and include an extra unstressed syllable at the end.
The poetic style of writing and this speci!c meter
together are often referred to as "verse." Verse does
not have to be in iambic pentameter, but this meter
seems to have been Shakespeare's favorite.

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Practice Quiz Course Info Video Only 122K views

Figurative Language in "Sonnet 18" 

As most good poets do, Shakespeare uses
!gurative language in "Sonnet 18" to maintain the
poetry of his verse and to clearly paint his idea for
the reader. Shakespeare employs the use of
metaphor, imagery, personi!cation, hyperbole,
and repetition as literary devices in "Sonnet 18".

Metaphors in "Sonnet 18"

A metaphor is a comparison between things or
people that does not need to include "like" or "as,"
and metaphors in "Sonnet 18" include the entire
theme of the poem. The !rst line "Shall I compare
thee to a summer's day?" suggests the person the
speaker addresses is comparable to a beautiful day
and all it entails. The statement claims the
speaker's focus is a summer's day, only to become
something even more beautiful later in the poem.
This is the sonnet's prevailing metaphor and
theme, as the entirety of the poem continues with
this !rst line's metaphor.

Imagery in "Sonnet 18"

Imagery is rich in "Sonnet 18." Imagery is any
language that excites the senses and includes
descriptors that can be smelled, touched, tasted,
seen, heard, or otherwise sensed. Shakespeare
discusses the "darling buds of May" shaking in the
summer's "rough winds". The ability to read the
word "rough" and imagine how the winds feel
against the skin is what makes this type of
description imagery. Shakespeare is a master of
this literary device, often conveying even complex
feelings through his sonnets' imagery.

Personi!cation in "Sonnet 18"

Personi!cation was a popular literary device in
16th and 17th century England, and Shakespeare
most certainly made great use of the concept.
"Sonnet 18" personi!es the sun in the sky,
assigning it gender and saying "his gold
complexion" is often "dimmed", complexion being
an innately human term.

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Lesson Summary 
William Shakespeare is credited with the writing of
154 sonnets. Most of these sonnets, including his
famous "Sonnet 18," were dedicated to an
unknown young man. Shakespeare's sonnet is 14
lines long and follows the classic rhyme scheme
associated with its poetical form. Various literary
devices appear in "Sonnet 18" including metaphor
(comparison between two things), imagery
(descriptive language), personi!cation, hyperbole
(exaggeration), and repetition .

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Video Transcript

Shakespeare's Sonnets
William Shakespeare is perhaps the most well
known playwright across the globe. However, many
might not know that he was also the author of over
150 poems. These poems were sonnets, or 14-line
poems with a set rhyme scheme.

Browsing through his many sonnets, you are likely

to recognize many famous lines. 'Sonnet 18,' which
we will be discussing today, has several of those
well-known quotes. So let's dive in and take a
closer look at the !gurative language within
'Sonnet 18.'

In order to analyze the !gurative language, we

must !rst read the sonnet:

Sonnet 18:

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

ow'st;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in

his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou

grow'st;

So long as men can breathe or eyes can

see,

So long lives this, and this gives life

to thee.

Anything sound familiar? This poem has a few lines

that have been referenced many times in other
literature and even pop culture. The basic message
of this poem centers on the speaker comparing his
love to a summer's day. He draws several di"erent
connections between summer and the woman he
loves, until he !nally makes the point in the !nal
two lines that summer days end (as do human
lives). However, since he has captured his love in
this poem, it will live on forever through the people
who read it.

One technique Shakespeare uses to emphasize this

message is !gurative language.

Figurative Language & Metaphor

To begin, let's review this term. Figurative
language consists of words or phrases with a
di"erent interpretation other than the literal
meaning. For instance, imagine there is a storm
raging outside your window and you yell to your
mother, 'It's raining cats and dogs!'

The literal interpretation of that statement would

be that animals are falling from the sky. Is that
true? Of course not! Instead, you have a !gurative
interpretation that the rain is coming down really
hard. This !gure of speech emphasizes that
message.

Now we can look closer at di"erent types of

!gurative language used in this sonnet. Our !rst
one is a metaphor, which compares two things
without using 'like' or 'as.' Metaphors usually draw
the comparison by stating one thing is another.

Returning to Shakespeare, let's go back to the very

!rst line of 'Sonnet 18:'

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

This line outlines the metaphor for the whole

poem, which compares the woman the speaker
loves to a summer day.

We see another metaphor further on in the poem:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven

shines,

And often is his gold complexion

dimm'd;

In these lines, the metaphor is comparing the sun

to the eye of heaven. This !gurative language
emphasizes the beauty or radiance of the sun. His
underlying point lies in the fact that even the sun
(the eye of heaven) will get dim from time to time,
but the beauty of his beloved will never fade. This
can be seen again later in the poem:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Again, this metaphor reiterates the fundamental

comparison of this woman to a summer's day.

Imagery
Next, let's look at the use of imagery, or words that
appeal to our !ve senses to create a vivid
description. The following lines contain imagery:

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

Can you pull out any words that appeal to the !ve
senses? 'Rough' and 'hot' appeal to the sense of
touch, while 'shines' and 'gold' appeal to the sense
of sight. In fact, the 'buds of May' can be an appeal
to the sense of smell by referring to $owers. These
are just a few instances of the imagery
Shakespeare uses to create a vivid description of a
summer day.

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 11th Grade English: Help and Review

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