The Analysis of Sonnet 18

【abstract】：Shakespeare wrote many sonnets during his lifetime.Sonnet 18 is very famous.On the theme of this sonnet people diverge.Some people think it’s about friendship while others hold the view that it’s about love.In the following passage，I will talk something about the theme as well as the writing of this sonnet.

【key words】： friendship "rhetorical device "atmosphere

The theme of Sonnet18 is the beauty of Shakespeare’s friend-a young man and the confidence that the author has on his poem. The whole sonnet develops in the way that the author compares his friend with summer to show the perfect character of his friend. In the author’s opinion， the beauty of his friend is permanent and nothing will be superior to it. In the sonnet， the author utilizes many kinds of rhetorical devices so as to emphasis the beauty of his friend， such as contrast、metaphor、personification、inversion and exaggeration. The rhyme scheme is 3 quatrains and a couplet， which makes the whole sonnet rhythmic.

In the first four lines， the author wants to compare his friend to summer. Although summer is comfortable and gentle， it is too short and sometimes the rough winds will shake the darling buds of May. The author uses the rhetorical device—contrast in this sentence. Compared with the summer， his friend is more lovely and temperate.

In the next four lines， the author continues to point out the drawbacks of summer. To make the sonnet vivid， the author makes use of metaphor and personification. “The eye of heaven” refers to the sun and “his gold complexion” means “gold sunshine”. What’s more， the author also uses inversion to make the sonnet more appeal to the reader.

In the following part， the author takes advantage of inversion to make the sonnet diversified，. ”Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st， Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade”. This is not only very catchy， but it also caters to the rules of rhyme. Besides， the rhetorical device of exaggeration is also used in this part. ”But thy eternal Summer shall not fade”， it is impossible that summer is eternal. The purpose of the author is to highlight that the beauty of his friend will last forever.

The whole sonnet creates a pleasant atmosphere. Different from it， sonnet 71 is very pessimistic. The theme of it is death. In Sonnet18， the author is very confident that his poem will make his friend’s beauty permanent and everyone will remember it. However， in Sonnet71， he is pessimistic about his sonnet. He says “do not so much as my poor name rehearse” in the sonnet. On the one hand， poor emphasizes the poet’s sense of his own worthlessness. On the other hand， he is poor because of abandonment by the beloved. At the end of the sonnet， the author writes “and mock you with me after I am gone”， which means that the author is willing to be forgotten after his death. He doesn’t want his friends to be upset because of his poor name. Therefore， he desires to be forgotten.

About the rhetorical devices， there are some rhetorical devices in the sonnet. For example， “when perhaps I am compounded with clay”， in the sentence， the author uses personification to make the sonnet vivid. Besides， there is irony used in the sonnet.

In my opinion， at different time Shakespeare had different writing styles. With the development of his career， he will take more things into consideration. Sonnet18 was written in the early of his writing career. So its language is gracious and its atmosphere is elegant. It shows the beauty of the young man wholly. It models a beautiful man and a confident writer. While Sonnet71 was written in his later writing career， so it is totally different from Sonnet18 both in the themes and the writing styles.

References：

[1]吳翔林.英美文學選讀[M].中國對外翻譯出版公司，1985.

[2]聶珍釗.英語詩歌形式導論[M].北京：中國社會科學出版社，2007.