appeciating and analyzing sonnet 18

Appreciating and analyzing sonnet 18 Shakespeare(1564-1616) was the most prominent British playwright and poet during the period of European Kenaissance. In his life Shakespeare wrote a lot of famous drama and poems. Among his poems, sonnet s are pieced of good writings which was universal praise. Shakespeare altogether wrote 154 sonnets all his life. It is said the poems can be divided two parts. From sonnet 1 to sonnet 126, this is part I which devoted to his young Fair Lord, praising his friend’s good look and their friendship. Sonnet 127 to the last one usually are regarded as the second part, which is said to give one “Dark Lady” (It is said that he also a man with woman’s dress) describing love.(it is universally think that Shakespeare was homosexual or had homosexual tendency). Shakespeare’s sonnets can reflect the happiness and sadness of life. We read his sonnet just like we enjoy a wonderful music concert. His sonnets are plentiful in usage of language , vocabularies and rhetorical devices. If we call his sonnets royal crown among English poems, sonnet 18 would be the peare on the royal crown. It wakes you wagio freely. It rhymes are free and easy, it is appropriate for its tightness and looseness about tempos. Also, its usages of rhetorical devices are switable. Now, we will appreciate and analyze sonnet 18 from its rhyme, theme, rhetorical devices, and writing skills, rhyme and structure. The structure of sonnet 18 is well-knit, and its rhymes are harmonious and clearly recognized. When we read it, just like we enjoy beautiful music, its sound rising and falling with its tempos. Now, let’s enjoy sonnet 18 by dividing its feet, analyzing its rhymes. Sonnet 18 Shall I / compare/ thee to/ a sum/ mer’s day? Thou art /more love/ly and more/tem/perate: Kough winds/do shake/the dar/ting buds/of May, And sum/mer’s lease/hath all/too ahort/a date; Sowetine/too hot/the eye/of hea/ven shines, And often/is his/gold comp/lion/dimmed. And eve/ry fair/from fair/sometime/declines, By chance/or na/ture’s chan/ging course/ untrimmed But thy/eter/nal sum/mer shall/ not fade, Nor lose/posses/sion of/that hair/ thon ow’st Nor shall /death brag/thou wan/d’est in/his shade, When in/eter/nal 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. All the poems contain 114 words altogether his poem is typically iambic pentameter. Each line has five beats, they are divided by slash mark. The famous of rhymes are very obvious---ABAB,CDCD, EFEF,GG. The rhymes are “day-May,”“temperate-date”, “shines-declines”, “dimm’s-untrimm’d”“fade-shade”, “ow’st-grow’st”and “see-thee”respectively. The structure of this sonnet is very compact in spite of different words of each line. Each line has 8 words on average. Just because of this structure and its rhymes, it makes the readers as if are in the word of music when enjoy the sonnet. Especially the last two sentences are very neat in form , the poem and express the theme of the lyric. Until today, this two sentences becomes very known, often be used and cited in some occasions. As we know, any form serve content. Then, what kind if content and themes are to be expressed by using this kind of well-knitted structure and form of couse, and its neat rhymes? 2. Theme and content in sonnet 18 As we mentioned before, Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets can be divided two parts. Naturally, sonnet 18 belongs to the first part. This poem was written for his young lord, praising his good look and their everlasting friendship. The poem begins with a simile. Comparing his friend to a summer day mentioned summer’s day, we can naturally think of hot weather. Summer is full of vigor and vitality. Everything is in its summit in summer. It suggest that his friend is in a young and energetic state. This period is his best time all his life. From the very beginning of this poem, we can judge that his friend age is in his twenties. Any person, men or woman, is the most beautiful time in his/her twenties. Beauty is the theme of the poem. In the first six lines, the author praise his friend’s beauty and vigor. His beauty is better and longer than summer, buds and hot sun. Just because summer is not very lovely and temperate, buds are easily shaked by rough winds, hot sun is often covered by something else. All the sentences just praise his beauty everlasting. Then the author suddenly point out that any kind of beauty would be transient. Anything can stop the step of the time. Anything will fade and perish in the end. However, the author expresses that his friend’s beauty would exist for ever, can’t fade with the disappearing of summer. His beauty would be with the time. Only time exist, his beauty would not perish. Even the Death will shrink back at the sight of his beauty. Then how can his beauty exist for ever? In the following lines, the author gave the answer. He had written his friend’s beauty into his own poem. If the poem could be handed down., his friend’s beauty would exist with his poem. Especially in the last two sentences, Shakespeare expressed great more confidence toward his friend’s beauty existing. Only men can breathe, or eyes can see , can everlasting his beauty produce posterity. Only he has children can his beauty handed down to generation by generation. This aspect reflect that Shakespeare emphasized humanism. Only human exist, can life continue. Only life continues, can people read his sonnet. If people read his poem, his friend’s beauty can be everlasting. In this poem, Shakespeare entolled not only the beauty but also the love. Because beauty and love connected closely. Just mentioned above, Shakespeare had homosexual tendency. Because he loved his friend, he could praise his beauty in all his effort. Shakespeare felt that the force of love was infinite. Only you love life, can you make life continue. This is also one of themes which the author wants to show us. Beauty and love are the themes of this sonnet which the author wants to express. All the sentences are around the two themes. We can easily draw a conclusion that Shakespeare pay more attention to humanism. Only men can make life continue all the time. 3. The usages of rhetorical devices. We can affirm that this sonnet could not be very vivid without using of many rhetorical deviced. Just because of usage of different rhetorical devices the sonnet 18 can become alive and fresh. In the poem, the author adopted more than eight kinds of rhetorical devices. Now, we only choose some primary ones to analyse and appreciate. 3.1 simile Obviously, the first line of the sonnet---“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” is a simile. Simile is an expression which describes one thing by directly comparing it with another. Here, the author compares thee to summer. “you” and “summer” have many common points here. They can embody beauty. Summer is the most beautiful season in the author’s eyes. “you”--- refer to his friend also is beauty that the author wants to praise. At the same time, summer is the season which is full of vigor and vitality, the best season among the year. His friend also was his primary and vigorous stage. Additionally, summer is transient, the shortest season among the four seasons. His friend’s beauty perhaps would disappear soon like summer. So he would write the beauty into his external poem. 3.2 metaphor The fourth line---“And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” He lease original meaning is the use of a building something or piece of land is given by its owner to someone for a certain time in return for rent. Here, summer is leased from nature. Anything leased must has a date to pay back. In this line, summer is regarded as something leased. At the same time, it refer to the youth and beauty, which are transient, must be paid back sooner or later. 3.3 personification In the sonnet 18, Shakespeare used personification in at least three lines. First, in the third line--- “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.”Here, the author described “darling buds”as a person. Usually, “darling”refer to human being to express appreciating and pity towards the buds of May. In the fifth line---“Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines.” The author regarded “ heaven” as person. He has eye, i.e. refer to the sun. Thirdly in the next line--- “And often is his gold complexion dimmed”. Here, complexion--- only human being , we can talk of this . Obviously, the author looked upon the sun as a living person. Shakespeare used many personifications to make the things he described alive. The purpose is that when they compare with his friend’s beauty., the darling buds and the sun’s complexion are all inferior to his friend’s beauty.