Universty of kirkuk

College of education

English department

”Shakespeare’s poem,; “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day

:Report by

Ahmed mohammed Abdullah

4th year - Evening c-group

:Supervised by

.Hiba H

2019-2020

Shakespeare’s poem,; “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” is one of the

most famous masterpieces of English literature. This poem was written in the
sonnet style (14 lines long with three quatrains in four rhymed lines and a
couplet of a pair of rhymed lines. Although many scholars stated that most of
the sonnets are anonymous poets, but they gave a special concern to the
distinguished Shakespeare's sonnets. In this sonnet Shakespeare used an
elevated Elizabethan conventional form to muse and praise poetry and his
.beloved. Moreover, Shakespeare tried to immortalize beauty and youth
In the first quatrain, Shakespeare established a meditative comparison
between youth, the poem and beauty to a summer's day. He expresses his
opinion that all of the three themes are better than a shiny summer day. He
draw a poetic image for that day with its all desirable advantages such as the
winds, warmth and young buds of fowers. However, he ****phorically
expressed that summer is beautiful but short and ephemeral, Shakespeare
compared his poem and his beloved to that beauty and started to show how
.both of them are better than the summer day
Shakespeare said that his poem and beloved are beautiful are like summer's
day regarding to the beauty of the day, but they are better than the day as for
its shortness. He said that his poem, love and beauty of his beloved will
remain for eternity, while a summer's day will not. He went beyond the time
comparison to say even their beauty is more and better than of the summer's
.day

The second quatrain strengthens the comparison of the beloved to a

summer’s day. Shakespeare criticized imperfectness of the summer's day
comparing to the beauty of the poem, beloved and youth. He criticized the
summer day for its weakness in front of natural changes and evanescence.
However, he gave us a very romantic image when he anthropomorphized the
sky and compared its eye " the sun" to his beloved shining eyes. He criticized
the mutability of time represented in a summer's day and emphasized the
.immortality of his poem and love
The third quatrain dealt with a new refective idea as Shakespeare shifted
from focusing on the comparison to emphasize the fact of evanescence even
for the beauty. He tried to limit the exaggeration he stated before by stating
that there is nothing to do in front of the nature. However, he stressed that
his poem can challenge all natural and temporal changes. He said neither
.time nor death can afect his poem
Shakespeare concluded his poem with a couplet where he spoke about the
two main themes " love and poetry" stating that both of them are everlasting
.and that the poem remains alive as long as the people read it
This sonnet has a plenty of sentimental images refecting the distinguished
style of Shakespeare. He used the ****phoric form when he described “rough
winds do shake the darling buds of May,” and he implies that his beloved does
not sufer from these winds as summer does. However, he assured his
beloved that her “eternal summer shall not fade,”. He gave another ****phor
of an “eye” for the sun so that the comparison between a person and a
season becomes vivid. Another ****phor in his sonnet is " Nor shall Death
brag thou wander'st in his shade " as he expanded the use of the ****phor
and reinforcing the poem’s advantages
Moreover, he draw a meditative idea through his words “often is his gold
complexion dimm’d.” , he expressed that inconvenient qualities do not afect
the poem. In line 12 “eternal lines” he quoted Virgil's words in Aeneid whenhe
wander helplessly in the underworld. In line 10 “ow’st” is short for ownest,
.meaning possess

As perpetual as his works, The English dramatist and poet William

Shakespeare still the most widely admired and infuential writer in the history
of Western civilization