Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)
-By, William Shakespeare, 1566-1616
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.
Bengali Translation:
আমি কি তোমাকে তুলনা করব একটি গ্রীষ্মের দিনের সাথে?
তুমি যে বড়ই মধুর ও অধিক মনোরম।
মে মাসের প্রিয় কুঁড়ি পড়ে ঝরে ঝড়ো বায়ুতে,
এছাড়া গ্রীষ্মের স্থায়িত্ব বড়ই যে কম।
কখনো স্বর্গের আঁখি বাড়ায় তাপের প্রখরতা
আবার কখন বা তার সোনালী দীপ্তি হয় যে ম্লান।
প্রতিটি সুন্দর বস্তু হারায় সুন্দরতা,
ঘটনাচক্র বা প্রকৃতির পরিবর্তনশীল নিয়ম তারই কারণ।
তোমার চির গ্রীষ্মের কখনো হবে না কোন ক্ষয়
সৌন্দর্য যা আছে তোমার হারাবে না তার অধিকার।
মৃত্যু কখনো করবে না দম্ভ – তুমি মৃত্যু উপত্যকায়
কারণ আমার অমর পঙ্ক্তি সৌন্দর্য বাড়াবে তোমার।
যতদিন মানুষ নেবে শ্বাস বা দেখবে চোখের তারায়
ততদিন বাঁচবে আমার কবিতা আর জীবন দেবে তোমায়।
“Sonnet 18” Summary
Summary: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? attempts to justify the speaker’s beloved’s beauty by comparing it to a summer’s day and comes to the conclusion that his beloved is better after listing some of the summer’s negative qualities. While summer is short and occasionally too hot, his beloved has an everlasting beauty, and that will never be uncomfortable to gaze upon.
or,
In “Sonnet 18”, the speaker compares a young man, the fair youth, to both the beauty and the impermanence of a summer’s day. Like summertime, the young man is resplendent with “darling buds” and “gold complexion”; however, the speaker notes, he is actually “more lovely” than a summer’s day. The speaker explains that on a summers day “rough winds” often strip the plants of their flowers, the heat is often too extreme, and clouds often cover the “gold complexion” of the sun. The fair youth, on the other hand, suffers from none of the unpleasantries that a summer’s day might bring.
Theme: The main theme of this poem is the power of beauty to overcome normal comparisons. Shakespeare explores the idea that while natural beauty, like that of a summer’s day, is fleeting, the beauty captured in his poem will endure forever.
Or,
This poem is one of the famous sonnet of Shakespeare known as Sonnet 18. In my mind, the theme of the Sonnet is a reverence of love or feelings of emotions from the speaker to another element. Certainly, this could be the love of the creation of art or the ability to love another. The idea of setting this spirit of Eros to the natural setting helps to bring forth the idea that one’s love is almost as natural as other phenomena experienced in the world of nature. Connecting both of these experiences into one, making them almost seamless expressions of individual expression and nature represents a critical theme of the sonnet. Shakespeare’s ability to make the subjective universal helps to create the idea that individual expression and natural expression are one in the same.
a) Answer the following questions. 2×5=10
i. What is the another name of this poem?
What comparison is made in the first line of Sonnet 18?
iii. What does the poet say about summer’s duration?
iv. How does the poet ensure that the beloved’s beauty will live on?
v. What is the final assertion of the poem regarding the sonnet itself?
b) Read the poem again, and identify 3 metaphors and 2 similes used in the poem. Then explain the purpose of their uses. 10
c) Read the poem again and express your feelings. 10
Answer:
i) The poem is also known as ‘Sonnet 18’
ii) The comparison is the first line is between the beloved of the poet and a summer’s day.
iii) The poet notes that summer’s duration is too short and that does not last long enough.
iv) The poet says that the loved one’s beauty will not fade or be forgotten because it will be immortalised in this poem. Even when his loved one dies, Death will not be able to boast that he has control now.
v) The final assertion of the poem is that as long as people can breathe or see, the poem will live on and also it will give life to the beloved’s beauty.
b)
| Literary Figures | Line of the poem | Purpose of Uses |
| Metaphor | Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day | To compare the beloved with summer’s day. It depicts that the beloved is very beautiful as the summer’s day. |
| But thy eternal summer shall not fade | To indicate the timeless beauty of the beloved, suggesting that it will not be diminished. | |
| Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines | Comparing the sun to the eye of heaven. It emphasizes the beauty or radiance of the sun | |
| Imagery | Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
|
Highlighting the theme of the fleeting nature of beauty. It creates a picture with buds being disturbed by harsh winds. |
| And Often is his gold complexion dimm’d | Reinforcing the idea that even the most brightest thing like the sun can be changed. It creates a picture that the sun is covered by clouds or the sun is dimmed by the weather condition. |
Extra Question:
Q: Who is the writer of Sonnet- 18?
Ans: William Shakespeare
Q: What is the other name of Sonnet 18?
Ans: “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” is the first line of sonnet 18 by which the poem is named often.
Q: What is a sonnet?
Ans: Sonnet is a short lyric poem containing 14 iambic pentameter lines and a complicated rhyme scheme.
Q: What type of poem is a sonnet?
Ans: A sonnet is a lyrical poem with intricate end rhyming.
Q: How do the ‘morning buds of May’ damage?
Ans: ‘Rough Wind’ damages the ‘morning buds of May.’
Q: What is the ‘eye of heaven’?
Ans: ‘Eye of Heaven’ means the sun.
Q: How is the structure of a Shakespearean Sonnet?
Ans: A Shakespearean Sonnet contains three quatrains and a couplet.
Q: What is the sub-title of Sonnet-18?
Ans: “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” is the sub-title of Sonnet- 18.
Q: Who is William Shakespeare?
Ans: William Shakespeare is an Elizabethan poet and dramatist. He is the most famous writer in the history of English Literature.
Q: What is the central theme of Sonnet 18?
Ans: Love for friendship and the permanence of beauty is the central theme of this poem.
Q: What does it mean by eternal summer?
Ans: ‘Eternal Summer’ means the everlasting beauty of youth, the poet’s friend.
Q: How does the poet glorify or immortalize his friend?
Ans: The poet glorifies or immortalizes by speaking about his friend’s beauty in the lines of sonnet 18.
Q: What is a quatrain?
Ans: A quatrain is a stanza form of four lines.
Q: What is a couplet?
Ans: A couplet is the two-line verses with the end-rhyming of a poem
Q: Who is the ‘thee’ of sonnet 18?
Ans: The friend of the poet is the ‘thee’ in the poem
Q: What does a ‘summer’s day’ stand for?
Ans: A ‘summer’s day’ stands for youth.
Q: What does Shakespeare praise in Sonnet 18?
Ans: In the poem Sonnet 18, Shakespeare praises his friend’s beauty.
Q: Whom is the Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare addressed to?
Ans: The Sonnet is addressed to the poet’s bosom friend Henry Wriothesly, the Earl of Southampton.
Q: How is a day in summer in Britain?
Ans: A day in summer in Britain is very much charming comfortable and enjoyable.
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