Shall I compare thee to a summer's day - Essay Example

The association of the idea of youth can be seen as a period of regeneration, whereby such beauty is much livelier and more colorful than the summer's days. Summer is described as the "eye of heaven5" with its "gold complexion"; the imagery of the summer is simple and vivid. The language is rather plain, and Shakespeare has chosen not to apply too many literacy devices. Alliterations, repetition, etc. would restrict his use of different words and so create boundaries. By avoiding such linguistic devices, Shakespeare is able to express his beloved's beauty openly and more eloquently.

His chosen mellow words combine to produce the full impact of the regular rhyme scheme- (day/Maie), (shines/ declines6). This emits a powerful sense of unrestrained behavior, such as "rough windes", which contrast with the images of summer. When Shakespeare describes the powerful image of "Rough windes" and how they "shake the darling buds of May", he is utilizing in the first stanza, powerful metaphorical devices in order to show a change. He implies that his beloved does not suffer from these winds as summer does.

Therefore, the beloved's comparison to summer and winter is expanded more pleasingly and lyrically. The final couplets which conclude the sonnet, bring everythi. His chosen mellow words combine to produce the full impact of the regular rhyme scheme- (day/Maie), (shines/ declines6). This emits a powerful sense of unrestrained behavior, such as "rough windes", which contrast with the images of summer. When Shakespeare describes the powerful image of "Rough windes" and how they "shake the darling buds of May", he is utilizing in the first stanza, powerful metaphorical devices in order to show a change.

He implies that his beloved does not suffer from these winds as summer does. Therefore, the beloved's comparison to summer and winter is expanded more pleasingly and lyrically.The theme of youth is carried forward through the third quatrain, expanding the concept that youth will possess eternal beauty and perfection, and shall never "fade7". Shakespeare creates this illusory idea, telling the beloved that beauty shall never be erased; he uses summer as a metaphor for her beauty. "So long as men can breath or eyes can see, So long lives this and this give life to thee"The final couplets which conclude the sonnet, bring everything together, reinforcing the idea of love and poetry in a positive and rich tone.

His last comparison is full of pride and positive reinforcement - a belief that his poem and his beloved will last "so long as men can breathe or eyes can see", unlike the summer days. The final couplets provide a new, yet connected concept; differing from those earlier comparisons and concluding and claiming that his beloved has been immortalized through the sonnet.Missing Dates (1940)William EmpsonSlowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.It is not the effort nor the