Linguistic Analysis of 'Sonnet 18'

551 Words3 Pages
William Shakespeare Sonnet 18 Sonnet 18 was first published in 1609 and is one of the best known sonnets written by William Shakespeare. The form and meter of the poem is classically Shakespearian with fourteen lines of iambic pentameter and no deviation. Every line is end-stopped constraining and controlling the reader. There are two quatrains followed by a third where the tone shifts. This is completed by a rhyming couplet at the end which strongly reinforces the fact that the poet and the written word are the real subjects of the sonnet. Although the sonnet follows typical form it was ground breaking at the time as before Shakespeare all sonnets were about love. Sonnet 18 is saturated with figurative language. The use of these poetic techniques allow Shakespeare to re-invent the audiences views and look at things afresh. The sonnets first line is a rhetorical question comparing his beloved “to a Summers day“. The following lines then go on to argue that the beloved is better until line nine when the tone of the sonnet changes again. Here the beloved is transformed into Summer itself. This was hinted at in line two “temperate” and line six “complexion”. Signs of good health in Shakespeare’s time. “Temperate” could be referring to the right balance of fluids or balance of personal qualities. Again with “complexion” external weather is compared to internal balance as the sun could be too hot. From line twelve to fourteen Shakespeare confides how his beloved will become “eternal” through the poem itself. In line three, “ Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”. Nature and plants are used as an extended metaphors and hinted at again in lines five and six as plant life needs light to flourish. In line eleven there is reference to the bible and the shade as being death. Too much shade kills a plant but the right balance is what is needed. The metaphor is
Open Document