Appreciation of Sonnet 18

宋夢琦

Sonnet 18 is one of the most beautiful sonnets written by William Shakespeare. Its the very masterpiece that brings me to the elegant literary world.

Generally， its a profound meditation on the destructive power of poetry and the eternal beauty brought forth by poetry to the one he loves.

The first quatrain of Sonnet 18 is the introduction part of the whole poetry. Shakespeare begins with a question “Shall I compare thee to a Summers day？” As we all know， the British summer is quite a nice and lovely period of time. People there feel comfortable in this mild climate. From this gentle enquiry， we can see that Shakespeare praises this young man as lovable and elegant as a summers day. But， apparently， soon after posing this question， Shakespeare gives answer to it on his own. Because， from the following sentence “Thou art more lovely and more temperate”， weve get the answer “no”. But how can a young man be lovelier and more temperate than summer？ The poet lists the shortcomings of summer to explain： “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May， And Summers lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines， And often is his gold complexion dimmd（the first line of the elucidation part）…” First， the winds are sometimes too rough that the new buds of May cant stand it. Second， the length of summer is too short. Third， the sun in the sky is occasionally so hot and shiny as to let people feel dizzy. Some rhetorical devices are used in these sentences. The affectionate expression of the first quatrain is focused on the comparison and contrast between the young man and British summers day indicates the poets great passion， appreciation and admiration toward this young man. In the description of summers disadvantages， metaphor and personification is applied. For example， “the eye of heaven”， which is a metaphor， actually refers to the sun in the sky， and “his gold complexion”， referring to the bright sunshine in a summers day， is a personification. We can conclude from these lines that the poet regards the noble young man so perfect and even more agreeable than the well-loved summers day that it seems an impossible task to compare him with any natural beauty because summer has few shortcomings in comparison. Generally speaking， in this part， Shakespeare expresses his admiration to the young mans impressive beauty.

The second quatrain is the elucidation of the sonnet， the first line of it belonging to the former quatrain in the content， revealing the eternal law in nature： every beautiful thing or person from the quality of beauty sometime declines. For instance， the dazzling sun in the sky often becomes dim although the summer is mild and lovely. And for what reason should all those beauties decline？ Shakespeare gives the answer： every fair is stripped by chance or by natures changing course. In my humble opinion， “by chance” means that beautiful things can be destroyed unexpectedly by accidents and the natures changing course refers to the changes that the four distinctive seasons bring to the earth. Take the classical romantic rose for an example， it may be destroyed by the passersbys unconscious tread or it will get withered when the autumn come.

Then it comes to the transition part， the third quatrain. Though all the beauty will fade， the fair of the young man will not. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade… ” Here Shakespeare uses an affirmative “but” to tell the young man not to worry at all about his own beauty because it wont fade for his beauty still remains in the eternal lines of the poetry when he grow into a part of time： “but thy eternal Summer shall not fade， Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst， Nor shall Death brag thou wanderst in his shade， When in eternal lines to time thou growst…” The word “Summer” here refers to the young mans beauty， and it is also a metaphor. “Nor shall Death brag thou wanderst in his shade” means that the young man cant be controlled by the death， which is apparently an exaggeration. By praising the everlasting beauty of the young man， the poet actually shows his admiration of the immortality of his poetry and furthermore， the art.

The conclusion is the last two lines， the couplet. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see， So long lives this， and this gives life to thee.” The poet again announces that the poetry and the young mans beauty in this poetry will last forever in spite of the strong wind， the dazzling sunshine， the accidents， the death， the law in nature and the elapse of time. Time is transient， but the poetry is immortal and the eternal beauty it brings forth to the beloved is also permanent and immortal.

Considering its stylistic feature， sonnet 18 is a typical Shakespearian sonnet with fourteen lines in iambic pentameter， including three quatrains and one couplet with the rhyme scheme “ababcdcdefefgg”. Besides， the use of alliteration and figures of speech add more beauty to the tonality of the poetry.