Shall I Compare Thee To A Summers Day Flashcards
The subject is referred to as ‘thou’ -
What does this suggest?
Perhaps holds certain religious connotations - suggests that she is held in high esteem
However, thou is often seen as being quite informal, which suggests intimacy
Summer fades into autumn, which suggests that….
Beauty fades, but their love is everlasting
Shakespeare refers to the subject as being ‘temperate’
What does he mean by this?
She is calm, and she is more consistent and long lasting then summer
‘Shall I compare thee to a summers day?’
What is a summers day symbolic of?
Something which is traditionally beautiful
- Summer - she is at her peak of beauty
‘And summers lease hath all too short a date’
What does Shakespeare mean by this?
Summer is not long lasting enough
Although it comes without fail every year
‘Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;’
What is suggested about the consistency of summer?
It is sometimes too hot, yet sometimes, the sun doesn’t shine at all
‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade’
BUT - a volter, signifies change - perhaps indicating that maybe he shouldn’t compare her to nature, and more specifically a summers day, as she is more consistent, always shining, unlike ‘the eye of heaven’ - she is maybe not comparable to a summers day as her beauty will not fade, like summer
ETERNAL - her beauty is ever lasting, it will never fade - the act of writing the poem makes her eternal
‘Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st’
What is the significance of using the word fair?
Reference to her beauty, which emphasises the previous point
‘Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade’
What is the significance of ‘death’ in this context?
Death cannot completely claim her because she is recorded in the poem
‘Eternal lines’ - what does this refer to?
The poem
‘So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and gives life to thee.’
What is meant by this final couplet?
She, the subject, will live forever in the poem, Shakespeare’s representation of her crystallised in eternity, for as long as men live and can read the poem
What is the rhyming scheme?
ABABCDCDEFEFGG
