What is the summary of the poem 'Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day'?

Answer 1

One example of an imagery used in the poem is "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May". Another imagery is "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see". Imagery is the use of vivid descriptive language to add more depth and appeal to the readers.

Answer 2

"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" is a Sonnet by William Shakespeare that explores the theme of beauty and its enduring nature through the comparison of the subject to a perfect summer day. The speaker argues that while the beauty of a summer's day may fade, the beauty of the beloved will live on forever through the words of the poem. Ultimately, the poem celebrates the timelessness of true beauty and love.

Answer 3

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 dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:

But thy eternal Summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st 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.

Answer 4

The basic metric pattern of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" - as with most of Shakespeare's sonnets - is Iambic pentameter.

But this is never a rigid pattern that must be strictly adhered to when reading the poem to yourself or reciting it aloud. However, it does dictate the length of each line which must contain 5 metric feet - and 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and 5.

Frequently a poet will play against the imposed rhythm and if you speak the poem with a rigid iambic beat you will miss the tension that is created when the spoken rhythm is out of alignment with the over all metre, and the release of tension when the spoken metre falls back into sync with the metric rhythm.

You should always speak a poem for meaning rather than in a contrived or artificial way. So it's useful when studying a poem to read it aloud, rather than silently to yourself. Be aware of the background beat but work against it as required. As Humpty Dumpty says, "Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves."

Here I've written stressed syllables in bold - the first example showing the Iambic metre, the second example as I would place stresses for sense:

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

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 ...

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

You'll see that throughout the sonnet the meaning struggles against the metre until the final couplet when the stresses required for sense fall in line with those required by the iambic structure. This gives a feeling of resolution, of things falling into their rightful place.

So long as men can breathe or eyescan see,

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

Answer 5

In this sonnet the speaker is talking about how his love interest is more lovely than summer and how thee is immortal

Answer 6

You're absolutely fabulous and will live in the minds of men as long as they can see these words.

Answer 7

metonomyme

metaphor

personification

simile

Answer 8

The actual name of this poem, Sonnet XVIII, gives you the hint to what kind of poem it is. It's a sonnet.