Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day - Book Report/Review Example

The last line is broken down “so-long-lives-this-and-this-gives-life-to-thee.” So quatrain or couplet within “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” has 10 syllables. This qualifies the poem as a sonnet. The last line is broken down “so-long-lives-this-and-this-gives-life-to-thee.” So quatrain or couplet within “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” has 10 syllables. This qualifies the poem as a sonnet. The Iambic Pentameter of a line is separated into eleven feet.

An example of a line in Sonnet 18, “Thou art more lovely and more temperate”, can be shown in different feet below the rhyme structure of this poem. An example is the first quatrain has the rhymes “day” and “May” in the first and third lines. The second and fourth lines rhyme with “temperate” and “date”. The second quatrain rhymes “shine” and “declines” in the fifth and seventh line. The sixth and eighth line rhymes “dimmed” and “untrimmed”.

The ninth and eleventh line rhymes with “fade” and “shade”. The tenth and twelfth line rhyme with “ow’ st” and “grow’ st”. The final two lines rhyme with “see” and “thee”. Finally, Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day” has the topic of beauty and love. Although it is not a requirement to have a love sonnet, Shakespeare uses the technique. “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” is in the style of a Petrarchan Sonnet.

The Petrarchan Sonnet is the Italian formed. The English, especially Shakespeare, used this typical technique subject of love. The Petrarchan Sonnet usually spoke of love, beauty, or love not required.  “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” also contains a volta. Volta is a shift in the topic in the third quatrain. In the beginning, Shakespeare is declaring undying love and comparison to life. However, in the third quatrain, the subject leads to death and fading. Although Shakespeare used the Petrarchan Sonnet formula by using a volta, his style was in English.

The difference in language did not change the format save for language.