Comprehension

1. She is more beautiful and more temperate and does not fade away like a summer’s day.

2. The eye of heaven is the sun. It is dimmed by clouds and bad weather.

3. Time destroys beauty.4. Because she will be immortalized in poetry.

Analysis1. ABAB CDCD EFEF GG2. First quatrain: The poet’s addressee is lovelier than a

summer’s day. A summer’s day is imperfect because strong winds may destroy it and summer itself only lasts a short time.

Second quatrain: Comparing his addressee to the sun the poet says that is often too hot or covered by clouds. Chance and change work on the things of the world and detract from their beauty.

Third quatrain: The beauty of poet’s addressee will not fade or die because the poet has immortalized it in these lines.

The couplet: The poem sums up what he has already said by point out that as long as men live and can read, the addressee’s beauty will continue to live on, unchanged, in these lines.