DIRECTIONS: Summer is a warm, delightful time of year often associated

with rest and recreation. Shakespeare uses figurative language to compare

his love to a summers day in Sonnet 18. Use the COMMENT button to
interpret his poem line-by-line and annotate the poem with at least 5
comments. Right-click on a word and click Define __ to read a definition to
help you. Then, answer the questions that follow on page 2.

Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

(Sonnet 18)
William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616

1 Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summers lease hath all too short a date.
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or natures changing course, untrimmed;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wandrest in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to Time thou growst.
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
 Answer these questions when done with your interpretative
comments:
How does By comparing her to summer which is warm and
Shakespeare make a happier time.
the woman he loves
sound more
appealing?
What does the But thy eternal summer shall not fade can
metaphor mean in mean that he is calling her beautiful by
line 9? comparing her to summer, and how it will not
fade and summer is warm and a beautiful time.
Shakespeare portrays Thou art more lovely and more temperate (Line
the woman he loves 2). This shows how she is more lovely than the
as ATTRACTIVE. summer he knows, and summer is beautiful with
Provide ONE example the greenery and flowers, and more temperate,
from the poem that showing us that she is more beautiful and
gives evidence to warmer than summer.
support this idea.
Cite specific evidence
and explain.
Which statement a. Summer is always the best time of year.
explains how b. The sun is personified to show that summer
Shakespeare uses can have really hot
figurative language in days and also sometimes cloudy days.
lines 5 & 6? Highlight c. The sun is meant to seem like it is making
one answer. sounds and annoying
people.
d. He is comparing his love to a cloudy day.
Which theme does a. Its better to be beautiful than smart.-
summer represent in b. Sometimes change is hard to see.
the poem? c. Beauty can last forever in a poem.
Highlight one answer. d. Pain lessens as time goes on.-
What is your favorite Thou art more lovely and more temperate-
line of the poem? I like the message it shows.

Shakespeare writes his sonnets with a specific

rhyme scheme, called iambic pentameter: