sonnet 18 notes

8/10/2019 Sonnet 18 Notes

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The youth's beauty is more perfect than the beauty of a summer day. more temperate - more gentle,

more restrained, whereas the summer's day might have violent excesses in store, such as are about to

be described.

3. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

May was a summer month in Shakespeare's time, because the calendar in use lagged behind the true

sidereal calendar by at least a fortnight.

darling buds of May - the beautiful, much loved buds of the early summer; favourite flowers.

4. And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Legal terminology. The summer holds a lease on part of the year, but the lease is too short, and has an

early termination (date).

5. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

Sometime = on occasion, sometimes;

the eye of heaven = the sun.

6. And often is his gold complexion dimmed,

his gold complexion = his (the sun's) golden face. It would be dimmed by clouds and on overcast days

generally.

7. And every fair from fair sometime declines,

All beautiful things (every fair ) occasionally become inferior in comparison with their essential previous

state of beauty ( from fair ). They all decline from perfection.

8. By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:

By chance accidents, or by the fluctuating tides of nature, which are not subject to control,nature's

changing course untrimmed .

untrimmed - this can refer to the ballast (trimming) on a ship which keeps it stable; or to a lack of

ornament and decoration. The greater difficulty however is to decide which noun this adjectival

participle should modify. Does it refer to nature, or chance, or every fair in the line above, or to the

effect of nature's changing course? KDJ adds a comma aftercourse, which probably has the effect of

directing the word towards all possible antecedents. She points out that nature's changing course could

refer to women's monthly courses, or menstruation, in which case every fair in the previous line would

refer to every fair woman, with the implication that the youth is free of this cyclical curse, and is

therefore more perfect.

9. But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Referring forwards to the eternity promised by the ever living poet in the next few lines, through his

verse.



10. Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall it (your eternal summer) lose its hold on that beauty which you so richly possess.ow'st =

ownest, possess.

By metonymy we understand 'nor shall you lose any of your beauty'.

11. Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

Several half echoes here. The biblical ones are probably 'Oh death where is thy sting? Or grave thy

victory ?' implying that death normally boasts of his conquests over life. And Psalms 23.3.: 'Yea though I

walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil ' In classical literature the shades flitted

helplessly in the underworld like gibbering ghosts. Shakespeare would have been familiar with this

through Virgil's account of Aeneas' descent into the underworld in Aeneid Bk. VI.

12. When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,

in eternal lines = in the undying lines of my verse. Perhaps with a reference to progeny, and lines of

descent, but it seems that the procreation theme has already been abandoned.

to time thou grow'st - you keep pace with time, you grow as time grows.

13. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

For as long as humans live and breathe upon the earth, for as long as there are seeing eyes on the eart.

14. So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

That is how long these verses will live, celebrating you, and continually renewing your life. But one is left

with a slight residual feeling that perhaps the youth's beauty will last no longer than a summer's day,

despite the poet's proud boast.

Notes

temperate (1): i.e., evenly-tempered; not overcome by passion.

the eye of heaven (5): i.e., the sun.

every fair from fair sometime declines (7): i.e., the beauty (fair) of everything beautiful (fair) will fade

(declines). Compare to Sonnet 116: "rosy lips and cheeks/Within his bending sickle's compass come."

nature's changing course (8): i.e., the natural changes age brings.

that fair thou ow'st (10): i.e., that beauty you possess.

in eternal lines...growest (12): The poet is using a grafting metaphor in this line. Grafting is a technique

used to join parts from two plants with cords so that they grow as one. Thus the beloved becomes

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/116.html






immortal, grafted to time with the poet's cords (his "eternal lines"). For commentary on whether this

sonnet is really "one long exercise in self-glorification", please see below.

Sonnet 18 is the best known and most well-loved of all 154 sonnets. It is also one of the most

straightforward in language and intent. The stability of love and its power to immortalize the subject of

the poet's verse is the theme.

The poet starts the praise of his dear friend without ostentation, but he slowly builds the image of his

friend into that of a perfect being. His friend is first compared to summer in the octave, but, at the start

of the third quatrain (9), he is summer, and thus, he has metamorphosed into the standard by which

true beauty can and should be judged. The poet's only answer to such profound joy and beauty is to

ensure that his friend be forever in human memory, saved from the oblivion that accompanies death.

He achieves this through his verse, believing that, as history writes itself, his friend will become one with

time. The final couplet reaffirms the poet's hope that as long as there is breath in mankind, his poetry

too will live on, and ensure the immortality of his muse.

Interestingly, not everyone is willing to accept the role of Sonnet 18 as the ultimate English love poem.

As James Boyd-White puts it:

What kind of love does 'this' in fact give to 'thee'? We know nothing of the beloved’s form or height or

hair or eyes or bearing, nothing of her character or mind, nothing of her at all, really. This 'love poem' is

actually written not in praise of the beloved, as it seems, but in praise of itself. Death shall not brag, says

the poet; the poet shall brag. This famous sonnet is on this view one long exercise in self-glorification,

not a love poem at all; surely not suitable for earnest recitation at a wedding or anniversary party, or in

a Valentine. (142)

Note that James Boyd-White refers to the beloved as "her", but it is almost universally accepted by

scholars that the poet's love interest is a young man in sonnets 1-126.

Sonnets 18-25 are often discussed as a group, as they all focus on the poet's affection for his friend.

Structure

This sonnet is an example of typical Shakespearean style, comprising three quatrains in iambic

pentameter ending in a heroic couplet, following a rhyming scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. It follows the

tradition of dividing the sonnet into two parts. In the octave, Time is shown as the enemy of the

transitory nature of beauty and there are references to different passages of time, “day”, “May”, “date”, “summer”. After the volta, highlighted by “But”, the sestet introduces Time as the solution: the youth’s

beauty will be everlasting as long as the sonnet exists and the references are to the “eternal” and “So

long as”. The final couplet, although part of the sestet, could stand alone and provides a strong closing

point.

Technical devices



It is significant that there is only one enjambment – every line except line 9 finishes with punctuation.

This is a poem of stated facts rather than rambling musings.

Repetition (“more lovely and more temperate”, “every fair from fair”) and anaphora (lines 6 and 7, lines

10 and 11, lines 13 and 14) are used heavily throughout the sonnet. These techniques are used for

emphasis, to accentuate the point being made. Contrasts are emphasised by antithesis, “moretemperate./Rough winds” and the last word of lines 5 and 6, opposing “shines” with “dimmed”.

Alliteration, a linking device, is lightly used which makes it more effective when it does appear, “chance,

or nature’s changing course”, used at the end of the octave. The next use is in the final line, “long lives

this, and this gives life to thee” where the double alliteration of the “l” and “t” force the line into

prominence.

The object of the sonnet

The poem begins with a rhetorical question to “thee” (commonly assumed to be a youth) (The Norton

Anthology, 2006) so it seems as though the poem is going to be about the young man. However, thestressed “I” of the first line contrasts with the unstressed “Thou” of the second, f oreshadowing the

theme of the poem; it is less a tribute to the youth’s beauty than a proclamation of the writer’s skill and

his assurance that his poem will be a future classic. This suggestion is furthered in the 12th line, “in

eternal lines”, referring to the lines of the poem. Shakespeare has broken the fourth wall by

acknowledging the poem and the existence of readers.

Use of Metaphor

Personification occurs throughout the poem in the form of Summer (“summer’s lease”), the Sun (“his

gold complexion”), Nature (“nature’s changing course”) and Death (“shall death brag”). Summer and

Death are personified to suggest a human relationship: Death is a rival for the poet’s love. The

“summer’s lease” is echoed in line 8 at “thou ow’st”, extending the metaphor further.

From the first line, Shakespeare invites a comparison with summer and this continues through to the

final couplet. Summer, generally presented as the perfect season, falls short of the youth’s perfection

and is unworthy to be compared to him. Summer has “Rough winds”, and “too short a lease” while the

youth’s “eternal summer” is reinforced at the beginning of the sestet.

The sun is represented as “the eye of heaven”. The “gold complexion dimmed” can be interpreted both

as the sun’s strength and beauty tarnished by clouds, just as the youth’s beauty will be tarnished by

time, but also “complexion” can be read as “temperament” (i.e. a combination of the four humours).This latter interpretation echoes “temperate” of line 2 effectively. (Ray, 1994)

Nature’s “untrimmed” has a double meaning. It can mean either unadorned, indicating that Nature will

strip the youth of his “fair” beauty but can also refer to the sails of a ship, suggesting that Nature’s

course is unadjusted. However, Jungman (2003) has suggested that the “untrimmed” may actually mean

“unadjusted” and therefore Shakespeare is saying that the thing that remains unchanged is Nature’s



changing, “mutability is eternal”. This interpretation strengthens the structure of the sonnet with the

octave representing change and the sestet reinforcing the endurance of the written words.

THEMATIC and SYMBOLIC ANALYSIS

CHANGE, FATE, AND ETERNITY

However much it might look he’s praising a beloved, this poet is definitely more concerned with tooting

his own horn. Really, you could sum up the poem like this: "Dear Beloved: You’re better than a

summer’s day. But only because I can make you eternal by writing about you. Love, Shakespeare." That

message is why images and symbols of time, decay, and eternity are all over this poem. Whether or not

we think the beloved is actually made immortal (or just more immortal than the summer’s day) is up in

the air, but it’s certainly what the speaker wants you to think.

Line 4: This is where the speaker starts pointing to how short summer feels. Using

personification and metaphor, the speaker suggests that summer has taken out a lease on the

weather, which must be returned at the end of the summer. Summer is treated like a home-renter, while the weather is treated like a real-estate property.

Lines 7-8: These lines give us the problem (everything’s going to fade away) that the poet is

going to work against.

Lines 9-12: These lines are full of all sorts of figurative language, all pointing to how the speaker

is going to save the beloved from the fate of fading away. The beloved’s life is described in a

metaphor as a "summer," and then his or her beauty is described in another metaphor as a

commodity than can be owned or owed. Death is then personified, as the overseer of the shade

(a metaphor itself for an afterlife). Finally the "lines to time" are a metaphor for poetry, which

will ultimately save the beloved, and "eternal" is a parallel with "eternal summer" in line 9.

Lines 13-14: What’s so interesting about these lines is that it’s hard to tell whether the speaker

is using figurative language or not. Does he actually mean that the poem is alive, and that it will

keep the beloved alive? Well, it depends what we mean by "alive." If we read alive scientifically,

as in breathing and thinking, well then alive is definitely a metaphor. But if we read it as

describing a continued existence of some kind, well then maybe he does mean it literally, since

surely the poem and the beloved exist for us in some sense.

POETRY

If the major question of this poem is how to become immortal, and thus more wonderful than a

summer’s day, the speaker’s answer is poetry. For that reason, poetry takes on an inflated importance in

the poem, and is attended by dramatic, powerful language.

Line 1: This rhetorical question accomplishes a lot, including setting down the main axis of

comparison in the poem, and also implying that the speaker is only making a show of caring

what we readers or the beloved actually think (since he clearly can’t care how or whether we



answer him). In addition to these roles, though, the word "compare" gives this line a special

charge, since it is a word that is so closely tied up with the role of poetry. If you were to try to

define poetry, one thing you might say is that poets really like to compare things that are really

dissimilar and show they can be connected. In a sense, then, we can read this line as "should I

write a poem about you?" In that way, the speaker has already made the act of writing poetry

an issue in this poem, and, as we’ll see, his answer to this question is obviously, "heck yeah I

should write a poem about you, since I can make you immortal!"

Lines 12-14: These lines are where the poet finally begins to talk about poetry more clearly. The

phrase "lines to time," creates a metaphor for poetry, since poetry is lines of words set to a

time, or meter. Then, using a parallel in the last two lines, he asserts that as long as humans live,

his poetry will survive, and, in turn, so too will the beloved. The question, of course, is what he

means by the poem giving "life" to the beloved. It’s in some sense a metaphor, at least, since

the poem isn’t about to perform CPR on the beloved’s corpse every time the poem is read. But if

"life" just means having someone think about you, then sure, the poem could give life to the

beloved.

PERSONIFIED NATURE

From the beginning of the poem, the speaker tries to set up a contrast between the beloved and a

summer’s day. He tries really hard to distinguish them, ultimately arguing that the beloved, unlike

nature, will be saved by the force and permanence of his poetry. The thing is, the contrast doesn’t really

work, since summer, if anything, seems much more eternal than the beloved. If being written about

preserves immortality, then the summer ought to be immortal because the speaker’s writing about it as

well. And then there’s the fact that summer actually is, in some sense, immortal, since it returns in full

force every year.

Line 1: This is a rhetorical question, as the speaker definitely doesn’t care how or whether we

answer him, and it also introduces what will be the main metaphor of the poem, as the

summer’s day will be discussed using concepts more literally applicable to the beloved than to

summer itself.

Line 2: "Temperate" is a pun, since it carries two important meanings here. When applied to the

beloved, it means "showing moderation or self-restraint," but when applied to the summer’s

day it means, "having mild temperatures."

Lines 3-4: This is all personification here. Even if winds might really be able to "shake" things,

and buds could be described as "darling," these are both words more often applied to human

actions. The next line is a much more obvious case of personification, as summer can’t literally

take out a lease on anything. Note also that this implies a metaphor of the weather as a rentable

property. Also, the "darling buds" introduce an extended metaphor of plant life and the

conditions needed to sustain life that runs through the rest of the poem

Lines 5-6: There’s the apparent opposition here, in that sometimes the weather is too hot, and

sometimes it’s too cold. But there’s also personification with "eye" and "complexion." What’s

more, "complexion" doesn’t just mean the appearance of the face, but also had a second



meaning in Shakespeare’s time, referring to someone’s general internal well-being. Note also

that the plant life extended metaphor is continued in "shines" and "dimm’d," since plants need

light in order to flourish.

Line 9: Here the personification is inverted: instead of describing nature in human terms, the

speaker is describing the beloved in the terms of nature, giving him or her an "eternal summer"

which could not literally apply.

Line 11: "Shade" makes for a continuation of the plant life extended metaphor, since if you’re a

plant stuck in the shade, that’s some bad news. "Shade" is also a pun, because it can mean

"ghost."

Line 12: The plant life extended metaphor is completed, as the speaker finally points out a way

that plants can "grow," instead of all of these problems they faced in previous lines of the poem.

Now what is this way? Well, perhaps aside from suggesting poetry, "lines to time" could also

conjure up an image of plants lined up in rows in a farm. In other words, plants need to be

organized and cultivated by humans in order to survive. This works really well with the main

theme in the rest of the poem: that the beloved needs to be organized and developed by the

poet in order to survive.

LEASES and DEBT

The speaker of "Sonnet 18" is really trying to simplify nature and fate, since he’s trying to hurdle over

their limitations with his poetry. One way he does it is to reduce them to economic transactions –

something simple, easy to understand, and most importantly, work around.

Line 4: He describes summer as having a "lease" over the weather. This is, of course,

personification, since summer couldn’t hold a lease, but for the purposes of this theme, it’s also

a metaphor, since the weather isn’t actually a product that can be bought, sold, or rented.

Line 10: Here the speaker jumps back into the economics lingo, using both a metaphor and a

pun. The metaphor is similar to what we saw in line 4: here beauty, instead of the weather, is

what can be bought, sold, and rented. But here there’s also a cool pun with the word "ow’st," as

it could mean both "owest" and "ownest." Either way, he’s still playing with the property

metaphor, but we can wonder whether the beloved’s beauty is something he or she owns, or

something that he or she has only borrowed, and would have to return if not for the speaker’s

poetry.

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