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 dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st 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.
Originally published in 1609 in Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Public domain.
Analysis
“Sonnet 18” — often beginning with its famous opening line, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” — is perhaps the most celebrated of all Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. It captures the poet’s meditation on beauty, mortality, and the power of art to confer immortality. Though brief, it remains a cornerstone of English lyric poetry and one of literature’s most enduring expressions of admiration.
Summary of the Poem
The speaker begins with a rhetorical question: should he compare the beloved to a summer’s day? He quickly rejects the idea, noting that summer is fleeting and imperfect — its winds are rough, its duration short, and its brightness often dimmed. By contrast, the beloved’s beauty is constant and serene.
In the poem’s turn (the volta), the poet claims that the beloved will achieve eternal life through verse: “But thy eternal summer shall not fade.” Art triumphs over time, preserving what nature cannot. The final couplet proclaims the sonnet itself as the vessel of immortality — “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
Themes and Interpretation
The Transience of Beauty
Shakespeare begins by acknowledging the vulnerability of natural beauty. Summer — a symbol of youth and vitality — is brief, and its perfection easily marred. By invoking nature’s impermanence, the poet prepares his contrast: human beauty, too, fades unless preserved by art.
Art as Immortality
The sonnet’s enduring theme is the power of poetry to overcome decay. Through verse, the beloved’s beauty will live “so long as men can breathe.” The act of writing becomes both memorial and creation — a defiance of death through artistic permanence.
Love Beyond Time
Although the poem is often read as romantic, it can also be seen as an exploration of ideal love — a love that transcends physical attraction and becomes an eternal celebration of beauty itself. The poet’s affection evolves into reverence for the immortalizing power of art.
Structure and Style
“Sonnet 18” follows the Shakespearean sonnet form: three quatrains and a final rhymed couplet (abab cdcd efef gg) in iambic pentameter. This strict rhythm underscores the poem’s harmony and control, mirroring the calm perfection it describes.
Shakespeare’s imagery blends natural and cosmic elements: “the eye of heaven” (the sun), “rough winds,” and “eternal lines.” His diction shifts from earthly (“buds of May”) to transcendent (“eternal summer”), tracing the movement from mortal to immortal realms.
Tone and Voice
The tone is tender yet assured. Unlike the irony of “Sonnet 130,” this poem is idealizing — but its idealism is grounded in the permanence of art, not in illusion. The poet’s confidence in the final couplet elevates the poem into prophecy: through his words, beauty defeats time itself.
Legacy and Significance
“Sonnet 18” has become the archetype of poetic praise — its opening line one of the most quoted in English literature. Beyond its lyric grace, it expresses a profound faith in the creative act: that art can rescue human beauty from oblivion.
For over four centuries, its closing lines have embodied poetry’s promise — that memory, language, and love can outlast the limits of life.