SONNET XVIII

Considering the title the reader can understand that the sonnet is part of a collection. As the most of Shakespearian sonnets this may be dedicated to the fair youth.
The structure is the one of the Elizabethan-Shakespearian sonnet, composed by three quatrains and a rhyming couplet.
The first quatrain opens with a retoric question from the speaking voice to a "thee" (you).
The "thee" is more pleasant, calm and lovely than a summer day.
Shakespeare compares the Summer to the Fair Youth, producing curiosity in the reader. He idealizes the Youth, which wins the compare.
The sonnet is lyric because it talks about a personal argument of the poet.
The poet uses the semantic field of the nature and the one of time.
In the second quatrain the poet notices that some things, even in summer, may not be so beautiful as he thought, and continues the idealization of the youth.
In every quatrain the Youth has something more and something better.
The problem that the poet presents is how can he preserve the fair youth's caratheristics through time; the solution proposed in the rhyming couplet is the poetry: the poet wants to save the best of the youth in his lines.