Analysis of William Shakespeare: Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare’s sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day is a typical English or Shakespearean sonnet when it comes to its formal characteristics. Thus, the sonnet contains three quartets, and a couplet. Furthermore, the sonnet has the characteristic rhyme scheme of English sonnets: AB AB CD CD EF EF GG. The form of English sonnets often encourages the thorough consideration of an argument or idea, which is then wittily illustrated or summed up somehow in the final couplet . In comparison to the typical form of English sonnets, I find the form of Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 to be somewhat different. But, admittedly, sonnet 18 does encourage the thorough consideration of a particular idea. The idea being to compare the poet’s beloved to a summer’s day. However, this idea is not wittily illustrated or summed up in the final couplet. Instead, Shakespeare uses the last lines of the sonnet to go in a new direction towards a surprising conclusion. Until line 8, Shakespeare has compared his object of affection to a summer’s day, whereas in lines 9-14, the attention is shifted towards arguing that poetry is immortal. Consequently, the form in sonnet 18 is not the form of a typical English sonnet. Instead, interestin
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Approximate Word count = 1268
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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