Sonnet 18 is a poem of admiration and glorification of Shakespeare’s lover. Sonnet 97 is a poem about being separated from his lover and Sonnet 130 is a poem for the “Dark Lady” which is descriptive but is not nearly as flattering or focused on outer beauty as Sonnet 18.

Sonnet 18 is a poem that glorifies the subject and his or her beauty. Shakespeare uses metaphors to describe his lover. He uses the season of summer as a basis of comparison to the person he is writing about. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate”. Shakespeare states that this person is even more beautiful than a summer day. They are also gentler than a harsh sun, which shines brightly and causes the sun to beat too hotly and raise the temperature too high. He refers to the sun with another metaphor, “the eye of heaven”.

Shakespeare also says that summer goes by too quickly. He is metaphorically saying that the presence of this person will end shortly because they will die too soon a

nd “autumn” will begin. Even though they will be gone, their beauty will live on through the words he has written about them. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and gives life to thee.”

Unlike poems that are written in declaration of a woman or man’s outer beauty, this sonnet is focused on the inner beauty that the “Dark Lady” possesses. Shakespeare loves her just as she is and doesn’t think there is anyone else like her. “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare”. Instead of glorifying his lover’s outer beauty as in Sonnet’s 18 and 97, he has been honest about her appearance. She is beautiful to him regardless of what she looks like because she is a beautiful person.

The birds are not singing, as they should be, and if they do sing, they do not sing joyfully. “And, thou away, the very birds are mute: / Or if they sing, ‘tis with so dull a cheer / That leaves look pale, dreading the Winter’s near”. The leaves on the trees are also dull because the “summer”, which signifies his beloved, is gone. He feels only “winter” without them.

The eyes of his lover and dull and “nothing like the sun” This is a big chang

Some topics in this essay:
Sonnets Shakespeare, sonnet 18, sonnet 97, , “dark lady”, outer beauty, sonnet 18 poem, sonnet 97 poem, outer beauty sonnet, beauty sonnet, poem admiration, shakespeare metaphors, sonnet 130, shakespeare’s beloved, 18 poem,