Poem Presentation

6/14/07

In William Shakespeare’s Sonnet #18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” there is much interpretation that can be obtained in just a few lines. This poem is technically described as an Italian of Petrarchan sonnet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme representing that of three quatrains.
The most controversial aspect of this poem is the question of who this poem was written to. Ones first image is of Shakespeare writing this to a woman beautiful in both body and soul. However, there are some who speculate that he was in fact, writing to a man. It is said that many of Shakespeare’s poems were written to a man whom he had an infatuation for. But no matter who this poem is for, one can not deny the beauty behind these words. There are so many speculations about Shakespeare, as well as his poetry, many of which will go unanswered, but with many speculations as to what the “correct” answer is. For instance, no one even knew Shakespeare’s birth date, but some speculate that he was born and died on the same day, April 23rd. Although so much of his work is famous now, he choose to not publish any of his plays himself. Although, Shakespeare was pretty well known while he was alive, if you type his name in google today you will find that there are over 50 million sites he is included in, and probably the most fascinating is that all of Shakespeare’s family were illiterate!
Upon first reading this poem I am taken back to a warm summer day in my youth where I was completely at ease. I feel comfortable and free of distractions, while I think about each word as it makes its way through the poem itself. Have you ever wanted to express yourself but not know how to? This is what I think Shakespeare is trying to do, so rather than simply saying there are no words, he is making words that mean one thing to us, mean something else in this poem. He is seeing this unchanging beauty of
someone, and comparing that to the long, “youth” of summer. When I read through this poem I do not rush through it. These words were meant to be appreciated and thought long and hard about. As this unchanging beauty is right in front of us, we are asked to spend as much time as we need to fully grasp this beauty that is in front of us. It would be easy to read this and think how arrogant Shakespeare is being in just paying attention to ones outer beauty, but the fact that he is saying this beauty will live on forever (unlike youth) he is referring to ones inner beauty that shines through. The line saying how fair from fair sometime declines is referring to the external beauty of something, and even though this may fade, internal beauty will last forever.
As a closing to this poem we are left with the lines: so long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee. I am reminded of the saying we spoke of in class “writing something down give one eternal life”. Not only is Shakespeare immortalizing the person described in this poem, but because of his beautiful words, he too will live forever in writing. There is also the thought that not only will the two of them be remembered forever, but the love that they shared will also never be forgotten.