FREE ESSAY ON SONNET 18

SONNET 18

SONNET 18
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is one of one hundred fifty four poems of fourteen lines

written in Iambic Pentameter. These sonnets exclusively employ the rhyme scheme, which
has 
come to be called the Shakespearean Sonnet. The sonnets are composed of an octet and
sestet 
and typically progress through three quatrains to a concluding couplet. It also contains
figurative 
language and different poetic devices used to create unique effects in his sonnets.
Shakespeare's sonnets consist of words constructed in a certain manner or form, thoughts,

emotion and poetic devices. One way to interpret the sonnet is to think of "thee" that 
Shakespeare is referring to as a person. Following that line of thought the sonnet could
read that 
Shakespeare is in love with someone who is consistently beautiful. He tries to compare
this 
person to summer but summer is not as beautiful or constant. This person in Shakespeare's
eyes 
will never grow old and ugly and not even Death can say that his person's end is near. 
In line 1, he starts the poem with a question. He asks if he should compare the person to

a summer's day but ends up not doing so realizing that the person is superior. In the
following 7 
lines of this sonnet, he begins to show the differences between the person and a summer's
day. 
He explains that the person's characteristics is moderate and comfortable and has
favorable 
qualities in line 2. "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May," (line 3) means that
the 
rough winds of the summer can destroy the buds of the flowers and his particular person
has no 
such trait. In the forth line of the sonnet, Shakespeare justifies how summer is too
short and 
how his lover's beauty does not end like this specific season does. In the next two
lines, lines 5 
and 6, the superb poet interpret the summer's temperature. He explains how the summer can
be 
extremely hot and uncomfortable. He also describes how the sun can be dulled due to the 
covering of clouds. It can obscure or shadow the earth, unlike the shining beauty of his
lover. 
Although Sonnet 18 is an extended metaphor, line 7 has a literal meaning that explains
itself:
"And every fair from fair sometime declines," With fair meaning beautiful, he is saying
that 
everything that is beautiful must come to an end and that all beauty fades except the one
of his 
lover. The next line is an example of the reasons why beauty fades. Chance makes beauty
fade 
by something dreadful happening. He says that natures changing course untrimmed meaning 
that the seasons changing direction, path or time can deteriorate beauty. 
In line 8, the turning point of the sonnet, Shakespeare specifies that something is 
changing by using the simple word But. He goes on to explain that the person's beauty
will not 
die. He itemizes eternal to mean that the person's charm will live forever. You are not
going to 
lose possession of that beauty that you own, Shakespeare explains in line 10. In the
eleventh line 
of the sonnet, he says that Death won't be able to brag that he has possession of the
persons 
beauty. In other words, the beloved will never die. At the end of the sonnet, he writes
about 
"eternal lines" which symbolizes that the beloved's beauty will grow in this poem
forever. In 
the last two lines of this poem, lines 13 and 14, the poet means that as long as people
read this 
poem, that the beloved's beauty will live. He also describes how the person will live in
the spirit 
and beauty of the poem. It could also represent the poem itself, which keeps the person
beautiful 
forever.
This sonnet has a basic form or structure. In this sonnet there are fourteen lines 
divided into two clear parts, an opening octet which has 8 lines and a closing sestet
which has 6 
lines with a fixed rhyme scheme: ababcdcdefefgg. The octave presents the narrative,
states the 
proposition or raises a question. The sestet drives home the narrative by making an
abstract 
comment, applies the proposition, or solves the problem. In Sonnet 18 the octave says
that the
beloved is better than a summers day. It develops the idea of this sonnet. The sestet
then 
explains why the beloved is better than a summer's day. The sestet also states that the
lover will 
live forever. Instead of the octave and sestet divisions, this sonnet characteristically
embodies 
four divisions. Three quatrains of four lines each with a rhyme scheme of its own, and a
rhymed 
couplet. In this case, the rhyme scheme of the quatrains is: abab cdcd efef gg. The
couplet
at the end is usually a commentary on the foregoing.
Some types of poetic devices that are frequently used in this love poem are meter, rhyme,

assonance, consonance, repetition, end & internal rhyme and alliteration. Meter is a sort
of up 
down bouncy ball type of sound that goes along with the line of poetry. It has accents
and 
unaccented syllables. Alliteration works by repeating one or more letters at the
beginning of a 
word throughout a line. Some examples of alliteration (shown in italics in the sonnet
above) in 
this sonnet is spread out in all fourteen lines. Words like shall summers, thee to, thou

temperate, art and, more more, do darling, and all a, summers short, sometime shines, too
the, 
hot heaven, fair from fair, summer shall and time thou are all examples of alliteration.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. Examples of assonance (shown in bold in the

sonnet above) are spread throughout sonnet 18. Words such as compare summers, rough buds,

sometime declines, in his, thou grow'st, breathe see and lives his gives are all
assonance. 
Consonance, which means that the final consonants agree, is also used in this specific
sonnet. 
Some consonance examples (shown underlined in the sonnet above) are compare more, winds 
buds, is his, fair fair, eternal shall, that ow'st, when in, men can, and lives this this
are some good 
examples of consonance. We also have end rhyme used in this Shakespearean sonnet such as
day 
may, temperate date, shines declines, dimmed untrimmed, fade shade, ow'st grow'st, and
see 
thee (shown in a script font in the sonnet above). Internal rhymes are also used such as:
Lines 1 
and 2, thee and lovely. We also have lines 3 and 4, do and too. Another example of an
internal 
rhyme is heaven and complexion and is his from lines 5 and 6. Repetition is very common
in this 
sonnet. In line 2 we have more and more, in lines 4 and 5 he also shows too and too. In
lines 6 
and 7 and and & fair fair. Towards the end of the sonnet, lines 10,11 and 12 show nor nor
and 
thou thou. The rhymed couplet has three repetitions which are so long, so long, can, can
and 
this, this. 
Although William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is an extended metaphor, there are other
examples of figurative language throughout the poem. In this sonnet, we have figurative 
language such as metaphor, conceit, personification, antithesis, synecdoche or they just
remain 
self explanatory (literal). The conceit, controlling idea, of this poem is in line one
when Thee is 
being compared to a summer's day, which is also a metaphor. Antithesis is shown in line
14 
when Shakespeare says "So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." This is the
balancing of 
contrasting terms. An example of synecdoche is in line 12 when "lines" is referred to as
the 
whole poem. Examples of personification are seen in lines 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 14. In the
third line, 
Shakespeare says "darling buds" giving human attributes to a flower. In line 4, summer is
given 
a life like quality to rent or to lease. The sun in line 5 is referred to as the eye of
heaven. The sun 
is being compared to a face having a gold complexion in line 6. In line 11 Death is being

compared to a braggart giving Death a human quality. In the last line of this sonnet, the
poem 
itself is being compared to a living thing. Although all the lines just mentioned are
examples of
personification, they are all metaphors as well. Lines 7 and 13 have both literal
meanings. These 
two lines are self-explanatory and mean what they say. The remaining lines 2, 7, 8, 9,
10, and 12 
and 13 are all metaphors because throughout those lines, the beloved's beauty is being 
compared to the summer. Iambic Pentameter is essentially the meter or the basic rhythm of

Shakespeare's sonnets.
Love is an intangible thing, and emotion, it can have no real definition, because it can

mean so many things depending on the situation. I enjoyed this sonnet because Shakespeare
had 
the ability to show his poetic skills in appropriating metaphors and conceits in clever
ways, so 
that the poem becomes, not just a tribute to the beloved but also a testament to his
great skill as a 
poet. 
Bibliography
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