Sonnet 18 Analysis
Irving Diaz
CP English Per. 5
Mrs. Feuerborn
February 2, 2012
Shakespeare’s Love In his sonnet William Shakespeare uses extended metaphors, symbolism, and rhyme pattern to both compare a young woman’s beauty to summer and show that her beauty will live on throughout his poem, thus death would truly mean nothing in writing. He develops the characteristics of the women by drawing comparisons between her and summer using the extended metaphor implying that even though she is comparable to summer, that summer may not be compared to her since she is better. Shakespeare’s description is further emphasized with symbolism as draws deeper meaning to his poem by showing beauty’s eternal life and finally his rhyme pattern makes sure the reader forever keeps the poem in his mind. The combination of these literary devices makes sure that the reader understands that the poem is meant to not be forgotten as it is the “beauty” of the young woman described. In his starting lines, Shakespeare begins his extended metaphor by asking if he may compare her to, “… to a summer’s day?” This first line of the sonnet introduces the reader to not only what the subject is, but also what to objects will be compared. By comparing the young woman to summer, Shakespeare indicates that her beauty is better than the rest, since summer is considered the most beautiful season of the three. His comparison drastically changes in the second line to a contrasting, since he states the young woman is, “… more lovely,” than summer itself. Furthermore, he continues this contrasting by stating the faults summer has and stating how much better the young woman is. By stating that summer’s, “… gold complexion dimmed,” he is stating that as time passes on summers real beauty will soon fade and not be eternal, rather it will be replaced. Thus when he states that, “thy eternal summer shall not fade,” he is stating that her beauty will forever stay only through his, “eternal lines,” meaning that his sonnet
CP English Per. 5
Mrs. Feuerborn
February 2, 2012
Shakespeare’s Love In his sonnet William Shakespeare uses extended metaphors, symbolism, and rhyme pattern to both compare a young woman’s beauty to summer and show that her beauty will live on throughout his poem, thus death would truly mean nothing in writing. He develops the characteristics of the women by drawing comparisons between her and summer using the extended metaphor implying that even though she is comparable to summer, that summer may not be compared to her since she is better. Shakespeare’s description is further emphasized with symbolism as draws deeper meaning to his poem by showing beauty’s eternal life and finally his rhyme pattern makes sure the reader forever keeps the poem in his mind. The combination of these literary devices makes sure that the reader understands that the poem is meant to not be forgotten as it is the “beauty” of the young woman described. In his starting lines, Shakespeare begins his extended metaphor by asking if he may compare her to, “… to a summer’s day?” This first line of the sonnet introduces the reader to not only what the subject is, but also what to objects will be compared. By comparing the young woman to summer, Shakespeare indicates that her beauty is better than the rest, since summer is considered the most beautiful season of the three. His comparison drastically changes in the second line to a contrasting, since he states the young woman is, “… more lovely,” than summer itself. Furthermore, he continues this contrasting by stating the faults summer has and stating how much better the young woman is. By stating that summer’s, “… gold complexion dimmed,” he is stating that as time passes on summers real beauty will soon fade and not be eternal, rather it will be replaced. Thus when he states that, “thy eternal summer shall not fade,” he is stating that her beauty will forever stay only through his, “eternal lines,” meaning that his sonnet