Sonnet no. 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day : Some Questions & their Answers : Sonnet no. 18
Essay Type Questions
Q.1. Give a critical appreciation of Shakespeare’s sonnet no. 18 beginning “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.”
Sonnet no. 18 (beginning “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” is one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Perfectly structured, it is both lyrical and dramatic The tone is one of heart-felt confidence in his love and in the power of his poetry . The sonnet is the poet’s tribute to his young and beautiful Friend who is the perfect embodiment of the Platonic conception of archetypal beauty. His beauty like the Platonic, is above change wrought by devouring Time on all earthly things. It does not decline by “chance, or nature’s changing course.” It remains untouched by death’s icy hand. And this miracle is accomplished by the poet’s verses written to commemorate this beauty.
Sonnet no. 18 sounds the theme of immortality assured through poetry. The anticipation of immortality for his verse, and so immortality for his Friend (love) was a common-place with the sonnet-writers of the time of Elizabeth. This immortality-through-versc theme has been dealt with in Spenser’s Amoretti, sonnets 27, 69, 75; Drayton’s Idea. sonnets 6, 44; Daniel’s Delia, sonnet 39. Shakespeare, however, borrows the eternising theme to protect the beloved against time’s ravages, not only from Petrarch but also from Roman poets, Horace and Ovid.
The poet is convinced that his sonnets in prais of his friend’s youth and beauty will endure until the end of time and give his love an eternal lease of life: “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” illustrates the poet’s high ideaism of love The young man’s love is the most precious thing in the poet’s life, and he wills to eternise the object of love in his verse. Love, in itself, is mortal.
But love as embodie in a work of art is idealized and so deathless. Artistic creation is a defier of time “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” takes into its scope with complete felicity and grace all the main images of the group (i.e. the sonnets dealing with the growth of love, 26). The image of often spoiled spring blossoms in (‘Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May’) hints at early death or young love blighted. The rose image is deftly humanized in the phrase ‘darling buds of May’. In ‘summer’s lease hath all too short a date summer has been imaged as a lease-holder.
Summer has only a temporary and oo brief tenancy (leasehold) on nature. ‘The eye of heaven’ is a suggestive and picturesque image, evoking, as it does, the correspondence between personality and higher spheres (heaven). ‘Gold complexion’ images the sun as a person with golden face. the word ‘declines’ in “every fair from fair sometime declines” suggests the sun’s declension or setting. The image of the setting sun charges our mind with melancholy feeling.
There is the image of a lease forfeited in “lose possession,” and of ghosts wandering in the underworld in “…wander’st in his shade”. The imagery of summer, and the sun, winds and flowers, and the personification of death are all in the conventional style of sonnet-writing; it is in the handling of the convention that Shakespeare’s individual genius is seen.
“The sonnet is decisively Petrarchan notwithstanding Shakespearean rhyme-scheme. To begin with, it is rhetorically divided into octave and sestet, the change between the two parts balanced on the fulcrum of the word ‘But’ at the beginning of the ninth line” The octave (the first and second quatrains) stresses the mutability and fragility of beauty.
But there is a dramatic shift, a change of tone or point of view in the sestet (line 9-14). The sestet affirms the changelessness and deathlessness of beauty as wrought by ‘eternal lines.’
The sonnet is magnificent throughout from the perfect beauty of the opening quatrain to the sweep and rush of the triumphant final couplet. The rhythms are varied with the subtlest skill and the majestic line-“But thy eternal summer shall not fade” reverberates like a stroke on a gong.
Q.2. How does art help love to triumph over death? Analyse “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” to justify your answer.
Ans. Shakespeare’s sonnets are remarkable for the memorable treatment of injurious Time that consumes all things with the hard teeth of the years little by little in slow death and beneficial love that keeps Time at bay. To present Time as an omnipresent, omnipotent cosmic force was a sonneteering convention of the Elizabethan age that can be traced back to the Roman poets Ovid and Horace, the Italian poet Petrarch and Petrarch’s French imitators, Ronsard and Du Bellay.
Time brings to decay or subjects to sea-changes, all things that come into existence. Nothing can escape its scythe (onslaughts). It destroys or sinks into oblivion cities, monuments, kingdoms, marvels, youth, beauty etc. Man and nature go through. series of changes and ultimately come to extinction owing to the swift, irresistible operations of Time. The injurious Time has found beautiful and famous expression in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida:
“Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion.”
Shakespeare often personifies Time and his attitude to it is one of defiance. He generally brings in love to counteract Time. He holds that love being eternal, does not care about the decay or destruction wrought by Time or old age. In sonnet no. 18 he says:
“So that eternal love, in love’s fresh case,
Weighs not the dust and injury of age.”
Not only Shakespeare’s conception of Time but also that of love triumphing over the ravages of Time were a commonplace of the poetic conventions of the time. While discussing Shakespeare’s treatment of Time and love we should remember that he always looks for something that will stand out against the mighty onslaughts of Time, and he finds it in the eternising power of his verse as well as in love itself. In sonnet no. 18 beginning “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” Shakespeare affirms the victory of love over Time by the immortality conferred on love (beloved) by verse. Mutability is the law of life and nature.
All the objects we see around us are in a flux due to the ceaseless operations of Time. The beautiful blossoms of May fade away soon or are blown down by stormy winds. The beauty of a sunny day is spoiled by the clouds. “And every fair from fair sometime declines” with the passing of time. But Time cannot devour the fairness of his love (= beloved). Even death cannot lay its icy hand on it. It is the poet’s verses which will shelter his love against Time’s assaults. Once immortalised in lines of verse which endures till the end of time his love becomes one with time. It ceases to be Time’s fool.
Q.3. Sonnet no. 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”) is decisively Petrarchan, notwithstanding its Shakespearean rhyme-scheme. Do you agree? Justify your answer with close reference to the text.
Ans. The Shakepearean sonnet, named after its most famous practitioner, consists of three quatrains rhyming ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, and concluding with a rhymed couplet, GG. The final six lines of a sonnet, even though written in Shakespearean form can become its sestet (the last six lines of the Petrarchan sonnet introducing a change of point of view, and bringing to the poem a sort of ‘re-vision’ or revelation). The quatrains may become repetitive or accumulative, and they contribute to the develop-ment of the theme.
The opening quatrain introduces the theme and the next two develop the theme. Shakespeare usually introduces a change at the third quatrain, occasionally, however, he introduces the change at the second, but sometimes he keeps it in reserve until the couplet itself. In this case the three quatrains provide the development of the theme by an accumulation of its different aspects. The couplet is related to the developmat of the theme in the sense that they either affirm or deny the contentions of the quatrains.
“The sonnet is decisively Petrarchan notwithstanding Shakespearean rhyme-scheme. To begin with, it is rhetorically divided into octave and sestet, the change between the two parts balanced on the fulcrum of the word ‘But’ at the beginning of the ninth line.” The octave (the first and second quatrains) stresses the mutability and fragility of beauty. But there is a dramatic shift, a change of tone or point of view in the sester (line 9-14). The sestet affirms the changelessness and deathlessness of beauty a wrought by ‘eternal lines.”
Short Answer Type Questions
Q.1. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (L. 1)-Where does the line occur? Why does the poet seem to be hesitant about comparing “thee to a summer’s day?” What does the poet mean by the phrase “a summer’s day” by metonymy?
Ans. The line occurs in Shakespeare’s sonnet no. 18 beginning Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.
The poet seems hesitant in comparing his friend (= thee) to a summer’s day because the friend is moderate or temperate in character as compared with summer days which can be excessively hot (i.e. intemperate).
By the phrase “a summer’s day” the poet means by metonymy the season of summer,
Q.2. “Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” (l. 2)-Who is ‘thou’ referred to here? Why is he described as “more lovely and more temperate” than the summer season?
Ans. ‘Thou’ referred to here is Shakespeare’s friend who is identified as the Earl of Southampton or the Earl of Pembroke.
He is described as “more lovely and more temperate” than the summer season, because summer may be excessively hot, and there may be stormy winds to spoil the beauty of nature.
Q.3. “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.” (L. 3)-When do ‘rough winds’ rage? What does the image of “the darling buds of May” shaken by rough winds hint at?
Ans. Rough winds rage in May.
The image of “the darling buds of May” shaken by rough winds hints at early death or young love blighted. The rose image is deftly humanised in the phrase ‘darling buds of May’.
Q.4. “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines.” (ll. 4-5)-Explain the images used in these lines.
Ans. In the first line before us summer has been imaged as a lease-holder. Summer has only a temporary and too brief a tenancy (leasehold) on nature. To speak plainly. the summer season is all too short-termed.
‘The eye of heaven’ in the second line is a suggestive and picturesque image, evoking as it does, the correspondence between personality and higher spheres (heaven).
**Q.5. “…every fair from fair sometime declines.” (L. 7)-Give some examples of ‘every fair’ declining from ‘fair’. What makes ‘every fair from fair’ sometime decline?
Ans. Some examples of ‘every fair’ declining from ‘fair’ are ‘the darling buds of May’ spoiled by rough winds, summer lasting too shortly, and the sky being occasion-ally overcast.
Every ‘fair from fair’ sometime declines because of accident, bad luck or natural decay inherent in all things.
**Q.6. “By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed.” (1. 8)-What side of Time’s power is revealed in this line? What law of life and nature does the line illustrate?
Ans. The despoiling power of Time has been revealed in the line.
The law of life and nature that the line illustrates is mutability. Every beautiful person or object is despoiled (robbed) of its external fairness either by accidents or by natural decay inherent in all things.
***Q.7. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade.” (L. 9)-Whose ‘eternal summer’ is referred to here? What is meant by ‘eternal summer’? Why shall ‘thy eternal summer’ not fade?
Ans. The ‘eternal summer of the speaker’s friend who is ‘the world’s fresh ornament is referred to here.
Beauty that does never fade is meant by ‘eternal summer’.
The beauty of the poet’s friend is not subject to mutability that characterizes all earthly things. It defies the onslaughts of all-devouring Time. It will never fade because it will be given an eternal lease of life by Shakespeare’s sonnet-sequence. The youth’s summer is not ‘eternal’ in itself, but only in so far as it is caught and preserved in Shakespeare’s verses.
Q.8. “Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade.” (II. 11)-Where does the line occur? Why shan’t “Death brag thou wander’st in his shade?” Describe the image in ‘thou wander’st in his shade.’
Ans. The line occurs in Shakespeare’s sonnet no. 18 beginning “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.”
Death is a great braggart. It boasts that it takes all earthly things into the darkness of graves. But this boast of death is of no avail so far as his Friend is concerned. The icy hand of death cannot touch him as it does all other humans because the poet’s ‘eternal lines’ will deprive death of its devouring power.
In “thou wander’st in his shade” there is the image of ghosts wandering in the underworld.
Q.9. Point out the conventional element in the couplet (the last two lines) of the sonnet 18.
Ans. The couplet of sonnet no. 18 expresses the immortality ensured by poetry. This immortality-through-verse theme was a convention with the sonnet-writers of Shakespeare’s time. It is treated in Spenser’s Amoretti, sonnets 27, 69, 75; Drayton’s Idea, sonnets 6, 44; Daniel’s Delia, sonnet 39.
Even the poet’s boast that his poem would make his Friend immortal is not peculiar, it was a sonneteering convention in the Elizabethan period.
Q.10. “And every fair from fair sometimes declines.” (1. 7)-What does the line mean?
Ans. The beauty of every beautiful thing or person decays sooner or later.
May’ spoiled by rough winds, summer lasting too shortly, and the sky being occasion-ally overcast.
Every ‘fair from fair’ sometime declines because of accident, bad luck or natural decay inherent in all things.
**Q.6. “By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed.” (1. 8)-What side of Time’s power is revealed in this line? What law of life and nature does the line illustrate?
Ans. The despoiling power of Time has been revealed in the line.
ne ?
The law of life and nature that the line illustrates is mutability. Every beautiful person or object is despoiled (robbed) of its external fairness either by accidents or by natural decay inherent in all things.
***Q.7. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade.” (L. 9)-Whose ‘eternal summer’ is referred to here? What is meant by ‘eternal summer’? Why shall ‘thy eternal summer’ not fade?
Ans. The ‘eternal summer of the speaker’s friend who is ‘the world’s fresh ornament is referred to here.
Beauty that does never fade is meant by ‘eternal summer’.
The beauty of the poet’s friend is not subject to mutability that characterizes all earthly things. It defies the onslaughts of all-devouring Time. It will never fade because it will be given an eternal lease of life by Shakespeare’s sonnet-sequence. The youth’s summer is not ‘eternal’ in itself, but only in so far as it is caught and preserved in Shakespeare’s verses.
Q.8. “Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade.” (II. 11)-Where does the line occur? Why shan’t “Death brag thou wander’st in his shade?” Describe the image in ‘thou wander’st in his shade.’
Ans. The line occurs in Shakespeare’s sonnet no. 18 beginning “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.”
Death is a great braggart. It boasts that it takes all earthly things into the darkness of graves. But this boast of death is of no avail so far as his Friend is concerned. The icy hand of death cannot touch him as it does all other humans because the poet’s ‘eternal lines’ will deprive death of its devouring power.
In “thou wander’st in his shade” there is the image of ghosts wandering in the underworld.
Q.9. Point out the conventional element in the couplet (the last two lines) of the sonnet no. 18.
Ans. The couplet of sonnet no. 18 expresses the immortality ensured by poetry. This immortality-through-verse theme was a convention with the sonnet-writers of Shakespeare’s time. It is treated in Spenser’s Amoretti, sonnets 27, 69, 75; Drayton’s Idea, sonnets 6, 44; Daniel’s Delia, sonnet 39.
Even the poet’s boast that his poem would make his Friend immortal is not peculiar, it was a sonneteering convention in the Elizabethan period.
Q.10. “And every fair from fair sometimes declines.” (1. 7)-What does the line mean?
Ans. The beauty of every beautiful thing or person decays sooner or later.
William Shakespeare : Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day : Sonnet No. 18
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