How will you like your memory to be kept alive?

in a statue made of stone, or a piece of poetry?

Is a stone statue permanent? Can it survive natural disaster or Time's passage?

​

How about a poem - a beautiful poem?

 

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.

​

Summary

‘Shall I compare Thee to a Summer’s Day’ is a sonnet written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) who is considered the greatest of English Dramatists and Poets. In this sonnet, Shakespeare praises the beauty of his noble friend. He says time will not affect his friend’s beauty nor diminish it, because this poem, which is immortal, will keep his beauty immortal too.

The poet thinks that his love is incomparable. This sonnet has three quatrains and a couplet.

​

It follows the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef and gg.

​

The ideas are developed in the three quatrains and the conclusion is  in the couplet.

POETIC DEVICES USED

1. Personification :

"the eye of heaven"
"his gold complexion"
"nor shall death brag thou"
"this gives life to thee"

2. Metaphor :

"darling buds of May"
"gold complexion"
"thy eternal summer"
"eternal lines to Time"

3. Alliteration :

"every fair from fair"
"chance or nature's changing course"

4. Repetition :

"more", "summer", "eternal", "this", " so long" etc.

​

.Answer the following question in a sentence each:

a. Who is thee?
Ans: “Thee” is the poet’s friend.

b. What does the wind do to the flowers?
Ans: The wind shakes the flowers.

c. What is ‘summer’s lease’?
Ans: ‘Summer’s lease’ is the length of the summer season.

d. Whose ‘gold complexion’ is referred to in the poem?
Ans: ‘Golden complexion’ referred to in the poem is the sun's.

e. What are the ‘eternal lines’ mentioned in the poem.
Ans: The ‘eternal lines’ means the everlasting lines of poetry.

f. ‘So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.’ Identify ‘this’ in the above line.
Ans: ‘This’ means the everlasting memory of his friend, i.e, the poem.

C. Answer the following questions briefly:

a. Describe the beauty of a summer’s day in England.
Ans: In England, a summer’s day is a blessing. England puts on the most beautiful look on a summer’s day. It is because a summer’s day is bright, beautiful and lovely. Moreover, its temperature is neither too hot nor too cold. This is the beauty of a summer’s day in England.

​

b. ‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate? Explain.
‘or’
How does the poet compare the beauty of his friend with that of a summer’s day?
Ans: The poet is of the opinion that his friend’s beauty is more lovely and more temperate than that of a summer’s day. His friend’s beauty will never fade, as he is eteranl. He exists in the lines of his poem, which is beyond time and season. He therefore says, “Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”

c. ‘And often is his gold complexion dimmed.’ What does the poet mean by it?
Ans: In the given line, the poet is talking about the beauty of the eye of heaven i.e., the sun. He says that the sun shines bright and beautiful. It has a golden complexion. But its beauty is not eternal. It becomes dim when the sky is covered with black clouds. This is what the poet meant by the given line.

d. Why does the poet say ‘every fair from fair sometimes decline’?
Ans: According to the poet, nature is overloaded with beautiful sights and sounds like the beauty of the flowers, that of the summer, the golden complexion of the sun etc. but  beauty is not eternal. Beauty can be lost by chance, or lose its charm by the changing course of nature. 

e. ‘Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade.’ Why cannot death brag?
Ans: According to the poet, death is all powerful. No one can escape death. Nothing can outlast death. But death is powerless in the face of his friend’s immortality. His friend has becomes immortal in the form of his poem. 

f. ‘So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.’ Explain.
Ans: In the given line, the poet describes the longevity of his poem as well as his friend’s beauty. He says that his poem is eternal. It is because he feels that as long as men can live, as long as their eyes can see, so long his poem will exist.
As long as his poem exists, it will give life to his friend’s beauty, making it immortal.

D. Extra Question:
a. Why does the poet say that his friend's beauty is eternal?
Ans: According to the poet, his friend’s beauty cannot be destroyed by chance or by the changing course of nature. Even death cannot take away his friend’s beauty. Moreover, as long as humaity exists, his poem will also exist. And, as long as his poem exists, it will give immortal life to his friend’. Hence, the poet says that his friend’s beauty is eternal.