Where is sonnet 18 from

Sonnet 18 contains the elements of a classic sonnet. It is written in 14 lines and contains the rhyme scheme ababcdcdefefgg. The first and third lines and second and fourth lines rhyme, and the pattern continues until the last two lines, both of which rhyme. In addition, the poem is written in iambic pentameter. Each line has 10 syllables, with the first unaccented and the second accented.

As a unit of writing, the sonnet has an organic beauty that depends on the balance of symmetrical and asymmetrical form and melody. And historically, sonnets have contained strong themes of love. As a result, Shakespeare uses the sonnet form to highlight his message about his beloved and their magnificent appearance. Something striking about this poem is how neat and perfectly tied up it is.

Every single line is in perfect iambic pentameter and there is no enjambment. The summer holds a lease on part of the year, but the lease is too short, and has an early termination date. That is how long these verses will live, celebrating you, and continually renewing your life.

But one is left with a slight residual feeling that perhaps the youth's beauty will last no longer than a summer's day, despite the poet's proud boast. Commentary 1. This is taken usually to mean 'What if I were to compare thee etc? One also remembers Wordsworth's lines: We'll talk of sunshine and of song, And summer days when we were young, Sweet childish days which were as long As twenty days are now.

Such reminiscences are indeed anachronistic, but with the recurrence of words such as 'summer', 'days', 'song', 'sweet', it is not difficult to see the permeating influence of the Sonnets on Wordsworth's verse. Thou art more lovely and more temperate: The youth's beauty is more perfect than the beauty of a summer day. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, May was a summer month in Shakespeare's time, because the calendar in use lagged behind the true sidereal calendar by at least a fortnight.

And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Legal terminology. It would be dimmed by clouds and on overcast days generally. And every fair from fair sometime declines, All beautiful things every fair occasionally become inferior in comparison with their essential previous state of beauty from fair. They all decline from perfection. Reply, reply. It is engender'd in the eyes; With gazing fed; and Fancy dies In the cradle where it lies.

Let us all ring Fancy's knell: I'll begin it,--Ding, dong, bell! Ding, dong, bell! On the bat's back I do fly After summer merrily: Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. O my Love sent me a lusty list, Did not compare me to a summer's day Wrote not the beauty of mine eyes But catalogued in a pretty detailed And comprehensive way the way s In which he was better than me. More well-traveled -rounded multi- Lingual!

More practiced in so many matters More: physical, artistic, musical, Politic al academic I dare say! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints.

I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. National Poetry Month. Materials for Teachers Teach This Poem. Poems for Kids. Poetry for Teens. Lesson Plans. Resources for Teachers. Academy of American Poets. American Poets Magazine. Poems Find and share the perfect poems.