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    Home»English»ENGLISH – Poem – SHALL COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER DAY?
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    ENGLISH – Poem – SHALL COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER DAY?

    December 15, 20193 Mins Read
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    SHALL COMPARE THEE
    TO A SUMMER DAY ?

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    by William
    Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare (1564
    – 1616) 
    was an English poet, playwright,
    and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and
    the world’s greatest dramatist. He is often called
    England’s 
    national
    poet
     and the “Bard of Avon” (or simply
    “the Bard”).
     His extant works,
    including 
    collaborations, consist of
    some 
    39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few
    other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into
    every major 
    living
    language 
    and are performed more often than those of any other
    playwright.

    Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? is one of the Fair Youth poems, addressed
    to a mysterious male figure that scholars have been unable to pin down.

    William Shakespeare

    Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?
    by William Shakespeare

    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 summers lease
    hath all too short a date.
     
    Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
    An often of his
    gold complexion dimmed,
    And every fair
    from fair sometimes declines.
    By change or
    nature changing course untrimmed.
    But they eternal
    summer shall not fade
    Nor lose
    possession on that fair thou oust
     Nor shall
    death drag thaw
    wander’st in this shade
    When in external
    lines to time thaw grows
    So long as men can
    breathe or eyes can see
    As long as lives
    this and this gives life to thee
          

    Questions

    1. What is the subject matter of the poem?
    2. Identify the main theme of the poem
    3.Comment the mood of the poet
    4. Comment on the rhyme scheme.
    5.What type of the poem is that?

    Answers

    1.  
    Subject matter is love
    The
    subject matter of the poem is love where by the poet talks about his feelings
    towards a woman, she is compared with a summer’s day, she is more lovely and
    temperature with a summer’s day, she is more lovely and temperate. In the two
    last lines (couplet) the poet says so long as men can breathe or eyes can see.
    So long as men can breathe or
    eyes can see meaning so long as life, goes on and many shall pass the woman
    will never be compared with another.

    2. The main theme of the
    poem is
    LOVE
    The poem is talking about love. The poet has love feelings towards a woman who
    he describes as the most beautiful and lovely woman. He compares her to summers
    day. And whatever happens, life goes in but she will always be the best.

    3. The poet is in romantic mood as he expresses his
    feeling towards a woman

    4. Rhyme scheme
         
    abab, cdcd, efef,gg

    5. Spencerian sonnet
    This sonnet combines the
    Italian and the Shakespearean poem, it has three quatrains and a couplet but it
    has linking rhymes among the quaint/trains. The Spenserian sonnet rhymes schema
    is ababa bcbc ee e.g. however those sonnets are very rare.
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