Analysis of Shakespeare Sonnet - Essay Example

It is in regular iambic pentameter. Each line consists of five pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables: “Shall I com-pare thee to a sum-mer’s day?” The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. The structure is particularly suited to highlight the poet’s message that love triumphs over time and decay. The first two quatrains describe the changes and the decline brought about time. These verses build up to the third quatrain which asserts the enduring power of love. Finally, the concluding couplet categorically declares that the poet immortalizes his beloved through his verse.

By standing apart from the other lines, the final couplet gains additional resonance in the reader’s ear and gives effective closure to the sonnet. The poet uses poetic devices to enhance the effect of the poem. He begins with rhetoric: The question, “Shall I compare you to a summer’s day?” does not require any answer from the beloved. He proceeds to make his comparison without any reply. The poet uses this as a way to boldly make a point and introduce his theme. The following lines are in the form of an extended metaphor, as the poet goes on to compare his beloved with a summer day.

Line 2 compares the beloved with summer and finds the beloved to be lovelier and more temperate. Lines 3 and 4 compare summer as a transient season with love’s permanence. The next quatrain compares “nature’s changing course” (8), the vagaries of the seasons and its decay with the unchanging quality of love. The third quatrain continues with the metaphor and compares summer’s passing away with eternal love. The continuing use of metaphor effectively emphasizes the theme of love’s endurance by repeatedly comparing it with the transience of nature.

The poet again uses metaphor to stress the immortality of verse in the line “When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,” (12). The “eternal lines” are the poet’s verse, which is set to ‘time’ or meter. He cleverly links poetry to time in this metaphor. The use of personification also contributes to the theme of the poem. Nature is personified so that it can easily be compared with the poet’s beloved. The winds perform human actions and “do shake” (3) the buds. The buds again assume the human quality of being “darling” (3).

Summer is a short-time lease holder of time. In quatrain 2, the sun is personified and is given human attributes, such as an “eye” (5) and a “golden complexion” (6). In line 11, the poet personifies death as a braggart who boasts of his conquests. Personification shows the staying power of love by demonstrating that, in every case, it is love which triumphs. Symbolism is another poetic device used by the poet to convey his theme. Summer, which is largely considered to be the most beautiful season of the year, is a symbol of the poet’s love.

However, the poet concedes that summer is a transient season: “And summer's lease hath all too short a date:” (4). Summer fades, as it has a temporary hold on time. So, the poet goes on to make his verse the symbol of his love. It is the power of his verse alone which can triumph over time. The powerful imagery in the poem heightens the effect on the reader and makes an impact on the senses. The line “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,” (3) evokes an image of strong winds shaking the branches of trees covered with tender buds.

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