Shakespeare is by far the most well-known and influential poet and playwright of his time. His work touched every being of his era, and thereafter. He will have an ever-lasting impression on literature, theatre, drama, and graceful poetry. His words transpire beauty and elegance through mere written expressions.
Needless to say, every time I read the celebrated Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare, I am continually stricken by it's magnificence, loveliness, and imagery. After reading the first line, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day," I am immediately drawn to the image of a stunning woman in a picturesque setting. Not only do I think of a beautiful being, but an astounding background illustration of nature in all it's glory. Needless to say, after reading the sonnets together as a whole, he was actually depicting a man rather than a woman.
It is interesting how Shakespeare compares the beauty and grace of a person to the splendor found in pure and untouched nature. From the first line, he compares a person to a "summer's day." A summer's day--full of brillant sun and unabashed grandeur. I view summer as the best out of the seasonal year. Nature is at it's peak; green grass, flowers blooming, and a gentle breeze blowing throughout the inherent earth. It is an artless perfection. Moreover, Shakespeare is daring to compare his beauty to this natural magnificence.
Going further into the sonnet, Shakespeare states, "Rough wind do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date; Sometimes 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."
I find these lines to be very moving; they hold a huge weight of importance and meaning in a few shorts lines. Shakespeare is discerning the fact that nature, in effect, does fade. Summer does come to an end, inviting rough and forceful winds to replace the gentle summer breeze. Sometimes the sun is blazing down without mercy, and often the earth's surface can be less than perfect. As with most things, the beauty of nature has a lifespan. All living things must meet their fate. Nonetheless, this person's beauty evades all natural erosion; the beauty does not decay, it lasts for eternity.
Explained throughout the end of the sonnet, "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." I think Shakespeare was trying to verbalize the fact that throughout the rest of this person's time, the beauty will not decay; it will last forever. As long as men can breathe or eyes can see. Despite the fact that nature eventually decays, through his sonnet in written words, his beautiful spirit will last forever.
I love your explanantion of this sonnet. I had to memorize this sonnet for an acting class about two years ago and even then when I was repeating it over and over I didn't get the imagery and immense emotion you conveyed through your post. You gave a lot of good examples of imagery for this poem - and I didn't know until this year that this was about a man! - so it holds a lot more and different meanings now than it did when I first read it. Good job ^^
ReplyDeleteThe imagery you portrayed through your explanation is very well written. It gave great details about the sonnet. My first pass reading through this sonnet I did not pick up that it was about a man. After reading it through a second time then reading your rumination it became clear to me that it is indeed about a man. Your imagery detail and perception of the sonnet is nicely explained through your writing.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely one of Shakespeare's most famous works, this sonnet is not one that can simply be copied by anyone and read to their lover as most lovey-dovey poems seem to be. This sonnet really seems to be personalized for this specific young man and nobody else. I read before that the word "complexion" in line 6 was commonly used in Shakespeare's time to describe both physical and emotional appearance. This young man's mood is also dimmed by the poor weather as his skin tone is. Finding that out kind of really blew my mind because it really is a very particular detail and by adding this new dimension to the previously faceless young man really personalizes this sonnet and adds a stronger feeling of intimacy between him and Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteWow! I had absolutely no idea that this sonnet was about a man until reading your rumination. I guess that little point just flew right over my head!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you dissect this sonnet, which definitely is one of his more famous works, poetically. The opening line is one of my favorites, as well as one of the most well-known opening lines of any literary work. My nursing major room mate even knew that it was Shakespeare when I spoke the line aloud! Your comments on how Shakespeare employs nature to show how the subject's beauty is eternal are completely dead on, and I couldn't agree more with this post as a whole.
I had the exact same reaction as the previous comments - that sonnet is about a man?! I just went back and reread it and it now makes sense, but until you mentioned it I never actually noticed. I think it's just normally assumed that the poet, who is a man, would be describing a woman's beauty. I like that Shakespeare steps out of the box and surprises his reader. This sonnet is one of the most famous ones I've heard and even after rereading it and discussing it numerous times, it still has a way of surprising me. My favorite part of your rumination was comparing the lines of this particular sonnet to things in nature. I think that Shakespeare does a great job showing his reader how pure beauty can be related to things in nature that are normally not thought of.
ReplyDeleteYes, i think the fact that this sonnet is written about a man is quite surprising and provocative. I would explore the text to see if you could find any clues that Shakespeare left within the text to hint at this: "and often his gold complexion dimmed" from line 6, perhaps? Also i find it interesting that, if all this is true, Shakespeare would have to disguise the male subject of his poem as not to offend the royal court of England.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis and insights, Erin. Sonnet 18 actually reminds me a lot of sonnet 55. In both, Shakespeare says that the memory of each person will live on through his writings. He writes, in sonnet 18, "When in eternal lines to time thou growest:" (18). Similarly, in sonnet 55, Shakespeare writes, "Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn/ The living record of your memory" (7,8). Both lines represent his efforts to preserve their memory through his verse.
ReplyDeleteGreat Rumination, Erin! I really like your observations on how vivid the imagery is that Shakespeare paints for his audience. Shakespeare's profound appreciation of beauty is inspiring, and your Rumination reminded me of this. Throughout the sonnets, Shakespeare seems to find beauty in everything, and communicate that this beauty is everlasting to his audience.
ReplyDelete"A Midsummer nights Dream" has tainted all of Shakespeare's love poetry for me. I've read the play four times in the last 2 years and every time I do I get the impression that Shakespeare is using his light hearted Romantic Comedy to show a certain cynicism about love and people who are in love. Yes all the language he uses is beautiful and yes on the surface it shows a love and adoration for this woman that is unsurpassed. But is that really what he's talking about? To me it seems all of his overly extreme praise speaks so someone poking fun at people. I see the poem as someone making fun of those fools who become so besotted with one another that all they can do is talk about, think about, write about that one person and how they are the best thing since sliced bread. For a master wordslinger like Shakespeare it would be no problem to hide the cynic undercurrent, and fool generation after generation.
ReplyDeleteOr he's really, really in love with this girl and I'm the cynic. Just some food for thought.
It is amazing, what these sonnets are able to communicate. You can draw serious meaning out of them--as you've so elegantly done here--or you can just kick back and enjoy their prose for what it is: gorgeous, ear-pleasing, etc. Someone else posted a clip of someone reading Shakespeare aloud, and I think it got at the sensuous pleasures these poems have to offer. And, as you touch on here, they've lived on to this day.
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