Sonnet 18 Summary: First Quatrain

SONNET 18 SUMMARY
FIRST QUATRAIN
The poem opens with a question asked by the speaker. The speaker asks the
beloved whether he should compare him to a summer day. The next line
announces the comparison and says that the beloved is lovelier than a summer
day. Moreover, the summer day is extreme, while the beloved is better because
he is temperate. The speaker furthers this comparison and says that the darling
buds sprouting in May are shaken by the forceful winds that blow in the
summer. Furthermore, the lease of summer is also not very long. It is very short-
lived.
SECOND QUATRAIN
The next quatrain opens with the description of yet another flaw in summer’s
beauty. During summers, the sun shines very brightly, and it is very hot. The
pleasant weather does not stay. Similarly, the sunshine is sometimes very faint,
and the weather gets cold.
Having described the numerous flaws in the summer’s beauty, the speaker
reflects on the nature of beauty in general. He says that every beautiful thing is
destined to see a decline in its charm one day. The reason for this decline may
vary, but the decline is guaranteed. Sometimes, it is the bearing of luck and
chance, which results in the fading of prettiness. Other times, it is the working of
time and nature, which brings old age. This way, no beautiful thing escapes the
clutches of future decline.
THIRD QUATRAIN
The first line of the third quatrain directly addresses the beloved and tells him
that his beauty is eternal. It will never fade. The speaker tells him that you
should not be afraid of losing the charm that you have now. Time will never be
able to take it from you. Similarly, death will also fail in dispossessing him of his
beauty. The shadows of death will never be able to take him under their control.
The speaker says that you will keep on growing in the eternal lines he is saying.
These lines do not come under the influence of time and will be able to remain
in world till the end of time.
COUPLET
The last two lines of the sonnet describe the reason behind the immortality of the beloved’s
beauty. The speaker says that as long as the human race remains here in this world, his lines
will be read. With the reading of these lines, the beauty of the beloved described in these
lines will remain in this world. This way, the speaker claims that he has given immortality to
the beauty of the beloved.
THEMES IN SONNET 18
ADMIRATION
Throughout the whole poem, the speaker talks about the beauty of his beloved.
He admires the beauty of his beloved in different ways throughout the three
quatrains. He starts by asking his beloved whether he should compare him with
a summer day or not.
The comparison starts from the very next line, where the speaker mentions the
limitation of summer in comparison to his beloved. He says that a summer day
is either too cold or too hot, depending on the sunshine. On the other hand, his
beloved is temperate and does not go to extremes. The speaker also claims that
his beloved is lovelier than a summer day.
The speaker furthers his admiration by juxtaposing his beloved’s beauty with the
beauty of other mortal things. He says that summer is too short and fades away
into autumn. Similarly, all the other things in the world are going to lose their
charm. They are either going to face some accident or fall into the arms of the
inevitable death.
This admiration of the beloved’s beauty is enhanced in the poem by the use of
superior metaphors. The speaker uses metaphor like “eye of heaven” in
comparison with his beloved beauty to show that his beloved’s beauty is not an
ordinary thing.
CRUELTY OF NATURE
Nature is depicted as a harsh and cruel antagonist in this poem. The speaker
says that the harsh winds shake the darling buds during May. This depicts that
elements of nature are always bent upon damaging the beautiful objects in the
world. Moreover, the two extremes of sunshine during summer deprive the
humans of the pleasant weather. It is the working of the cruel nature that does
not let humans have fun in this world.
Similarly, the speaker mentions how every fair thing is destined to lose its fairness in its interaction
with natural cycles. Nature is filled with such dangers that can snatch the beauty of anything at any
time.
Furthermore, death is depicted as a boastful antagonist in the poem. It is one of

the agents of cruel nature that puts an end to the beauty of many things. It does
not let humans enjoy their life and snatches it from them.
INEVITABILITY OF DEATH
The poem highlights the idea that no one can escape death. Everyone, no matter
how powerful they are, is going to fall into this pit called grave. This idea is first
developed in the poem by the description of the short-lived summer. The
speaker says that summer has a very short span of time and will soon end.
This idea is then developed, and the speaker maintains that death serves as the
full stop for every entity in the world. Every beautiful thing ceases to exist and
turns into dust once the time of death arrives. The speaker, however, promises
his beloved to protect him from such a future by immortalizing him in his poetry.
POETRY AS A SOURCE OF IMMORTALITY

In the last couplet of the poem, the speaker tells his beloved about his source of
achieving immortality. He tells him that he has immortalized him by writing
about his beauty in his poetry. He is sure that people will read his poetry even
when they are long gone from this world. When they read his poetry, they will
appreciate his beloved’s beauty. In this way, his beloved will remain immortal.
FORM
The poem is written in the form of a sonnet. It has fourteen lines, which are
divided into three quatrains and a couplet. The first eight lines—the octave—
discuss the same thought i.e., the comparison of the speaker’s beloved with
summer. The last six lines—the sestet—bring in a new thought. These lines
describe how the speaker’s beloved is unlike the summer.
RHYME SCHEME
The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is ababcdcdefefgg.
DICTION
The words used in the sonnet are straightforward and ordinary.
TONE
The tone of the sonnet is romantic and full of flattery. The speaker speaks of his
beloved beauty as there is no match for it.
SPEAKER
The speaker of the sonnet is a person who has a lot of experience in love.
He/she is very vocal about how everything is lesser in stature than his/her
beloved beauty. He/she also talks about using his/her poetry to immortalize
his/her beloved. This shows that he/she is a poet.
LITERARY DEVICES
RHETORICAL QUESTION
The very first line of the poem is a rhetorical question. The speaker asks his/her
beloved whether he/she should compare him to a summer day. This question
sets the tone and atmosphere for the rest of the discourse. It creates the air of
magnificence around the personality of the speaker’s beloved.
PERSONIFICATION
In line number nine, death is attributed with the human quality of boasting. The
personified image of death creates the image of a boastful enemy, which is
trying to bring everything under its shadows. In this way, it is portrayed as a true
antagonist.
METAPHORS
 In the fifth line of the poem, the sun is described as “the eye of heaven.” Here,
the sun is compared with an eye, which creates the effect of vividness. It provides the
reader with a mental image of the whole scenario.
 In the sixth line of the poem, the metaphor “his gold complexion” is used to refer
to sunshine. This metaphor creates the image of a beautiful person with golden
complexion being compared with the golden rays of the sun in the minds of the
readers.
 The metaphor “thy eternal summer” is used to refer to the beloved’s beauty.
This metaphor serves the purpose of maintaining the image of the comparison of the
summer season and the speaker’s beloved, which started in the first line.

Sonnet 18 Summary: First Quatrain

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SONNET 18 SUMMARY

Furthermore, death is depicted as a boastful antagonist in the poem. It is one of

POETRY AS A SOURCE OF IMMORTALITY

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