I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ is one of the most famous opening lines in all of literature. Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? For example ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ from Shakespeare’s sonnet 18. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. This admiration is illustrated by the poetic persona by juxtaposing summer’s day limitations to the efficiencies of his object of admiration. Thou art more lovely and more temperate: You are more lovely and more constant: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May: And summer's lease hath all too short a date: And summer is far too short: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” 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, 5 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; William Shakespeare was a famous playwright and a poet of Elizabethan period. In this post, we’re going to look beyond that opening line, and the poem’s reputation, and attempt a short summary and analysis of Sonnet 18 in terms of its language, meaning, and themes. This line outlines the metaphor for the whole poem, which compares the woman the speaker loves to a summer day. The first stanza, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ opens the poem with an indication of a young man deeply in love (Shakespeare 1). Admiration and love: the whole poem is about admiration and affection for the poetic persona’s object of admiration. Questions and answers for "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" which was written by William Shakespeare. Sonnet 18 or “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” is one of the most acclaimed of all 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare. Shall I compare you to a summer's day? The Sonnets are Shakespeare's most popular works, and a few of them, such as Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day), have become one of the most widely-read poems in all English literature. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? He envisions her as a beautiful creature and even wonders whether one can compare her beauty to any summer season. By William Shakespeare About this Poet While William Shakespeare’s reputation is based primarily on his plays, he became famous first as a poet. Iambic pentameter is a line of writing that consists of ten syllables in a specific pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, or a short syllable followed by a long syllable. First published in 1609, Sonnet 18 is a typical English sonnet and one of the most famous lyric poems in English. 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