Analysis of the sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? – Shakespeare

Right from the title, the intelligent reader understands the poem belongs to the Shakespearean collection of the 154 sonnets. Besides, the poem belongs to the section of the “marriage sonnets”. Moreover, the speaking voice is talking to somebody undefined addressee.

Considering the layout, the poem can be organized into four sequences following the classical structure of the English sonnet: three quatrains in alternate rhyme and a rhyming couplet. Therefore the rhyme scheme consists of: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

In the first quatrain the sonneteer wonders if he shall compare his addressee to a summer’s day. The question may be a rhetorical question because the speaking voice already knows the answer. The answer is in the entirely sonnet. The poet reveals that his addressee is much better than the image of the summer’s day. The comparison between the summer’s day and the addressee is unsuitable. Even if the summer’s day is connected to positive qualities, it is not enough to express the great values of the interlocutor. Immediately in the 2^nd line the speaking voice explains why the comparison reduces such qualities. The grammatical device “more…more..” exploited by the speaking voice is useful to praise his interlocutor and place him on a higher degree. As the use of the majoritive comparative, the use of the anaphoric syntax reinforces the idea of the supernal qualities of the “Fair Youth”. In the first and also in the second and third quatrains, the poet gives his argumentations to underline the best qualities of the “Fair Youth”. The poet expresses that even nature can sometimes show its negative sides; “May winds sometimes are too rough”. The reader can also hear the repetition of the sound “d” which is a dental sound that compels the reader to stop. In the fourth line the reader gives a further argumentation to explain that his love is better than a summer’s day: the summer is too short. Up to line 2 the speaking voice has mainly exploited the semantic field of nature. The reader can understand that time is a very important theme of the sonnet. All the words refer to the passivity of time. The message the poet wants to convey to his addressee is to get married and get children because in this way he can get the regeneration of his beauty. On the other side, the poet says in the last two lines that he will make him immortal thanks to the poem.  In the second quatrain the poet uses a metaphor “the eye of heaven” referring to the sun.  The poet continues the semantic field of nature and he magnifies the good qualities of the youth. Not even the sun, which is in a high position, is enough to express the Fair Youth’s importance. The poet says that the sun in not perfect because “ often is his gold complexion dimm’d” (line 6).The image which the poet wants to convey is that the time passes, therefore every beauty is going to perish: “every fair from fair sometimes decline”. (line 7)  In the third quatrain, the poet goes on explaining his personal opinion about the Fair Youth. The poet expresses that his Fair Youth has the best characteristics of summer, and these will never go away. With the anaphoric use of language the poet focuses on the beauty of his Fair youth; he will never lose his fair and he will never die because the poet has written the sonnet for him. Such statement is reinforced in the rhyming couplet.