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 dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest 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.
This Shakespearean sonnet written by William Shakespeare meets the criteria of my theme due to the title. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. This poem describes a woman whom Shakespeare was in love with. It describes her through comparison of her with summer, and argues that she is better. Shakespeare also believes she will live eternally through this poem. This poem is written in iambic pentameter and contains many poetic devices: Personification (of the sun), “And often his gold complexion is dimmed” (of death), “Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade”; repetition “Nor lose…, Nor shall death…”, “So long as…, So long lives…”; and metaphor, as the whole poem is describing this woman as summer.
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I've gotta say, I really really dislike this poem but only because of how cheesy and corny it is. However, it fits in very well with your theme and it's a good choice. I do like however, the use of adjectives, description, metaphors etc. to evoke the beauty of this woman, and it clealy shows that Shakespeare was completely besotted by her. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI've always particularly liked this poem. It's worth noting that this poem was written more than 400 years ago. When it was written, it defined the clichés. Kind of like looking at Star Wars nowadays. Anyways, nice choice!
ReplyDeleteSTAAAAR WAAARS! Every other bad@$$ nowadays is just sad compared to Han Solo.
ReplyDeleteHan Solo?!
'nuff said.
That aside, I've also always really liked this poem. There's just something about the extended metaphor that works. Also, the fact that Shakespeare is so cocky about his poem (believing that she will live forever in it, which implies that he thinks that the poem will be around and read forever) is always fun, especially since he was completely right.