"Sonnet 18" is a Shakespearean sonnet, a genre typically used for love poetry. It is usually structured to set up a major theme in the first three quatrain and then to have a surprising or paradoxical twist in the couplet.
Shakespeare begins by arguing that his lover is in every way superior to a summer day. One should note that the poem is set in England, which tends to have cool, rainy summers. The narrator...
"Sonnet 18" is a Shakespearean sonnet, a genre typically used for love poetry. It is usually structured to set up a major theme in the first three quatrain and then to have a surprising or paradoxical twist in the couplet.
Shakespeare begins by arguing that his lover is in every way superior to a summer day. One should note that the poem is set in England, which tends to have cool, rainy summers. The narrator points out that summer days are inconsistent; they can be windy or hot and humid or cloudy. The beloved's characteristics are more constant, though. Also, the summer will eventually fade into autumn.
In the third quatrain, the narrator suggests the beauty of the beloved is eternal, suggesting: "But thy eternal summer shall not fade." At first, this statement appears paradoxical, as all humans are mortal, but the couplet resolves the paradox by saying that as long as people continue to read this sonnet, the lover will be remembered.
No comments:
Post a Comment