16th century – Renaissance (c. 1500 – c.

1660)
In this period there was a strong reaction against medieval philosophy, which had greatly been
influenced by the church. This may be called a reawakening, or rebirth of Man’s consciousness of
himself; there was God but also Man as an individual.
At the same time there was a renewed interest in classic antiquity, which came to England
through France and Italy [many scholars had fed from Greece to Italy after the fall of
Constantinople in 1453]. Classic works had also been read in the middle ages, but they were mainly
of Roman origin. In fact, it was especially Greek philosophy that differed greatly from the
traditional doctrine of the church, so that in general one can say that in the renaissance classic
influences were the end of the feudal system [brought to England by the French with William the
conqueror, subduing individualism]. Next to that came the important art of printing. Nor should the
importance of the discovery [colonisation] of the Americas be underestimated.
With the Renaissance, English literature rediscovered drama [comedy, tragedy] and poetic
forms as the Sonnets, already popular in Italy, and blank verse forms. During the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I drama reached its peak with playwrights such as Ben Johnson, Christopher Marlowe,
William Shakespeare, and others.
However, religion continued to play an important part as well; in 1616 the authorised
version of the Bible appeared [King James version].

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

At the forefront of literature William Shakespeare stands alone. He is believed to have been the
greatest and most influential dramatist and poet in the English language. He has dominated English
literature for more than three centuries. Not much is known about his life: born in Stratford-upon-
Avon and marries Anne Hathaway. He went to London and worked as an actor and then turned to
writing plays. Evidence suggests that by the time of his death he had become a well-known and
popular dramatist. He did not publish his own plays and it is only thanks to two actors from his
company, who collected them after his death, that they survive at all.
There are many reasons for his extraordinary reputation: his great technical skills, his
enormous range of subject and characters, the exceptional number of plays he wrote and their
consistently high quality, his deep insight into human experience, and above all his unravelled
mastery of and supreme gift of the English language
Next to plays, Shakespeare wrote 154 Sonnets, probably somewhere between 1592
and 1598. These have long been surrounded by mystery; it has never been discovered to
whom they are written to.
Three themes dominate the sonnets: the destructive power of Time, the transience of
human love and beauty, and the poet’s determination to immortalise his addressed ‘lover’
through verse.

Sonnet 18 [published in 1609 - read and listen

1
Sonnet 18:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
BY WILL IAM SHAKE SPE AR E

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 18 read by Andrew Cullimore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32q5FiejbD8

discover it’s rhyme scheme

what pattern do you notice?

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Sonnet

A lyric poem consisting of a single stanza of 14 iambic pentameter lines

Petrarchan (or Italian) – two main parts
Octave [8 lines rhyming abba abba] & sestet [6 lines rhyming cde cde]
Shakespearean (or English) – three quatrains [abab cdcd efef] & concluding couplet [gg]

Rhyme / meter / foot

Petrarchan / Italian
Two main parts – octave [8 lines] rhyming abba abba
statement of a problem / situation / incident
sestet [6 lines] rhyming cdecde
resolution [firm decision] - resolvement

Shakesperean / English
three quatrains [12 lines] rhyming abab cdcd efef
repetition-with-variation of statement
couplet [2 lines] rhyming gg
ingenious ending - explanation

end rhyme

The poem is written in iambic pentameter, meaning five groups of unstressed syllables
followed by a stressed syllable.

Foot: a group of stressed and unstressed syllables that a line of poetry can be divided in

– iambic pentameter
υ ⁄ υ ⁄ υ ⁄ υ ⁄ υ ⁄
shall I compare thee to a summer’s day

shall I / compare thee / to a sum / mer’s day

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Shakespeare ordered his sonnets in a sequence quite unlike other sonnet sequences:
 the principal choice of praise, love, etc. is a beautiful young woman/man (?)
 moods are not confined to renaissance thought of a despairing Petrarchan lover but delight,
pride, melancholy, shame, disgust and fear
 the sequences suggest a story
 certain motifs are evident; the long sequence of sonnets 18-126 passionately focused on the
beloved young person, develops into the transience and destructive power of time, countered
only by the force of love and the permanence of poetry
 convey a sense of high psychological and moral stakes

Sonnet 18 is the best known and well loved of all 154 sonnets. It is also one of the most
straightforward in language and intent. The stability of love and its power to immortalize the subject
of the poet's verse is the theme.

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Sonnet 18 - analysis

1a Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Beauty in nature / summer = symbol of

youth / poses a question
2 b Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Poetic response
More than / temperate = constant
Surpassing summer’s delights
3 a Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, Imagery
All beauty might end
4 b And summer's lease hath all too short a date; Lease = legal term – length given
Though too short / contrast to youth
5 c Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, ‘eye of heaven’ – sun [metaphor]
6 d And often is his gold complexion dimmed; Occasionally clouded
7 c And every fair from fair sometime declines, All beauty becomes inferior compared to
what is was before
8 d By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed. Natural change age brings
Accidents, fluctuating nature, not
controllable / stripped of decorum
However, does it refer to ‘nature’ or
‘change’ or ‘every fair’ or ‘course’? the
comma might direct to all
Lines 2-8 – all nature is subject to imperfection / 9-12 response to 1s question / contrast to nature,
even death is impotent against the youth’s beauty
9 e But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Refers towards eternity promised by the
ever living poet
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; This ‘eternity’ shall not perish / you will
f owe it
11 Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, Half biblical echoes:
e ‘o, death where is thy sting?’
‘though I walk through the shadow of
death I will fear no evil’
Death = personified
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: This undying verse / you’ll grow as time
f grows / or: are grafted = integrated
Concluding couplet: poet describes not what the youth is, but will be ages from now: immortalised
forever in the poet’s verse
13 So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
g
14 So long lives this and this gives life to thee. ‘this’ – verse/poem
g

5
Initially, the poet poses a question — "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" — and
then reflects on it, remarking that the youth's beauty far surpasses summer's delights. The
imagery is the very essence of simplicity: "wind" and "buds." In the fourth line, legal
terminology — "summer's lease" — is introduced in contrast to the commonplace images
in the first three lines. Note also the poet's use of extremes in the phrases "more lovely,"
"all too short," and "too hot"; these phrases emphasize the young man's beauty.

Although lines 9 through 12 are marked by a more expansive tone and deeper feeling, the
poet returns to the simplicity of the opening images. As one expects in Shakespeare's
sonnets, the proposition that the poet sets up in the first eight lines — that all nature is
subject to imperfection — is now contrasted in these next four lines beginning with "But."
Although beauty naturally declines at some point — "And every fair from fair sometime
declines" — the youth's beauty will not; his unchanging appearance is atypical of nature's
steady progression. Even death is impotent against the youth's beauty. Note the ambiguity
in the phrase "eternal lines": Are these they simply wrinkles meant to represent the
process of aging? Do they refer to the immortal lines of poetry? Whatever the answer, the
poet is jubilant in this sonnet because nothing threatens the young man's beautiful
appearance.

Then follows the concluding couplet: "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So
long lives this, and this gives life to thee." The poet is describing not what the youth is but
what he will be ages hence, as captured in the poet's eternal verse.

Literary devices in Sonnet 18

Metaphor
A word or expression that is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable:
“compare thee to a summer’s day”

Imagery
A detailed description that appeals to any of the 5 senses.
‘rough winds / darling buds’

Personification
The act of describing non-human thing with human characteristics
‘wind’
‘sun’ – his’
‘death’

Hyperbole
A form of figurative language that uses exaggeration to make a strong point
‘the eye of heaven’
Lines 13-14 ‘so long as /lives’