The title is at the same time the first line of the sonnet: the intelligent reader can understand that the sonnet 18 comes from a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets.

The title is a rhetorical question, indeed the poet asks the addressee if he has to compare him to a summer's day and in the second line asserts that the addresse is better that a summer's day. the whole sonnet develops the reasons why the addresse is better that a summer day. the words 'summer' and 'day' remaind of positivity, light and youth, so by saying the addresse has more quolities than those of a summer day, the poet asserts that 'thee' is nearly perfect.

To connote the addresse the poet uses both majority comparatives and positives adjective to underline the addressee's good quolities, both negative figures to connote summer's day and create the distance. In addition the poet uses nouns, metaphors and adjectives from two different field: nature and time. From line four the theme of time is introduced: summer is too short (so even youth).

Now the reader may be curious to find out what the poet thinks about the reletionship between his lover (and her beauty) and time, indeed everyone will die, his lover too. So why is the poet saying his lover can not be compared to summer because it is too short, thought his lover will die too? At line 9 there is the volta and the poet says: 'but thy eternal summer shall not fade'. So the intelligent reader understands that the poet will find the solution and will explain why his lover is eternal. The answer is given at line 12: his lover will live in the lines of this sonnet. Indeed 'so long man can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee'.