Composer

:

William Shakespeare

Average_duration

:

1:18

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is a sonnet composed by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in the early 17th century. The poem was first published in 1609 in a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a final couplet, following the traditional structure of a Shakespearean sonnet. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, with ten syllables per line and a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. The first quatrain begins with the speaker questioning whether he should compare his beloved to a summer's day. He notes that summer is often too hot and brief, and that the beauty of his beloved will not fade like the summer season. The second quatrain continues the comparison between the beloved and summer, noting that sometimes the sun is too hot and that summer can be marred by winds and storms. However, the beauty of the beloved is constant and unchanging. The third quatrain shifts the focus to the power of poetry to preserve the beauty of the beloved. The speaker notes that as long as people read this poem, the beauty of the beloved will live on. The final couplet concludes the poem with a declaration of the power of love to conquer death. The speaker states that as long as people live and breathe, the beloved will live on in this poem. Overall, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is a celebration of the beauty and constancy of love, and the power of poetry to preserve that love for future generations. The poem is characterized by its use of vivid imagery and its exploration of the themes of love, beauty, and mortality.

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