First Edition

A friend gave me a book of Shakespeare’s Sonnets as a wedding gift last week (along with books of poetry by two of my other favorites, T.S. Eliot and Langston Hughes).  Gifts that are both thoughtful and personal are quite difficult for me to pick out… so I try to always give kudos when someone else gives me one.  Thanks!

After discussing the repetitive themes of Sonnets 1-3, I decided to skip ahead a bit.  My good friend, a Mr. Wiki Pedia, informs me that the first 17 or so sonnets share a common message… so, in my search for variety, I hereby skip to:

Sonnet 18

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.

What I get out of it

Summer

The famous question posed in the sonnet’s opening line seems to be answered with seven lines of “well… not really.”  “A summer’s day,” to Shakespeare, brings to mind mostly good qualities — but includes some negative traits as well.  For example, early summer has “rough winds” that “do shake the darling buds of May.”  In a person, the buds might represent attractive qualities; the winds could be compared to a person’s “rough” moods or other temporary detractions.  Additionally, in summer “the eye of heaven” (the sun) shines “too hot” or becomes “dimm’d” with storms.  The person to whom Shakespeare is writing is “more temperate” than summer:  “rough winds” of anger or sadness are more rarely seen, and “hot” tempers and storms of rage rarely appear.

“Summer’s lease,” writes Shakespeare, is too brief — it “hath all too short a date.”  Every beautiful aspect of summer “sometime declines” in beauty whether through accidental “chance,” or by “nature’s changing course” leading from summer toward winter.  On the other hand, this person’s beautiful aspects (which are “more lovely” than summer anyway) are “eternal” and “shall not fade” or ”lose” their beauty.  Here, we have a clue that our poet is not writing about physical beauty… a glance at earlier sonnets will confirm that Shakespeare recognized the transitory nature of a lovely appearance.  Instead, he must be showing appreciation for the more “eternal” beauty of an exceptional person’s soul or legacy.

Speaking of legacies, Sonnet 18 is far more than a mere expression of love or admiration; it is meant to be a lasting tribute to its object.  “Death,” according to line 11, may not “brag” that the person has died and “wander’st in his [Death's] shade” now that “eternal lines” of poetry have preserved an echo of the person’s beauty.  “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,” writes Shakespeare, “so long lives this” poem, and this poem “gives life to thee.”  The poet has crafted a form of immortality for the person to whom he writes, and as long as anyone is alive to read the sonnet, its object will not pass from this world.

Is it relevant?

Yes, and because of its relevance, this must be one of the Bard’s most famous sonnets… it’s almost certainly the one I hear quoted, misquoted, parodied, and otherwise referenced in popular culture.

On the surface, it is a simple love poem, such as any wooing teen or adult might write to the object of their affections.  There is little difference between this aspect of the sonnet and a large percentage of pop music lyrics heard on the radio.

On a slightly deeper level, it is a monument — a sincere attempt to leave a written (and, therefore, permanent) memory of a loved one.  Similar motives continue to inspire today’s poets, authors, filmmakers, and even bloggers.  I’ve done it, too.

On this note, I want to add one final bit of personal interpretation:  although Sonnet 18 is generally accepted as a poetic expression of romantic love, Shakespeare could just as easily have written it to communicate familial love, friendly love, or any of the other myriad varieties of affection with which our hearts are blessed.  Allowing for a bit of poetic license here and there, I could imagine Shakespeare dedicating this poem to one of his children as easily as to a lover.  It’s something to think about, at least.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near.

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

– Mark 13:28, 31

(Photo Credit and License)