The Tuesday Poem: Sonnet 18 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 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.
William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
—
I thought I’d continue my short break from the refeature series with a few of the classical poems—in this case Shakespeare’s famous Sonnet 18, arguably the most famous of his love poems. While that accolade remains a matter of opinion, Sonnet 18 certainly contains some famous lines, from the opening “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and the scarcely less famous “…darling buds of May”, through to the concluding couplet:
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. “
How about you, do you have a favourite Shakespeare sonnet or a favourite love poem?
You’re very welcome to leave a comment if you do. 🙂
Meanwhile…
—
To check out the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.
My fav sonnet … without question.
R
It “is” quite wonderful, isn’t it? Nice to know it’s struck a chord, too.
Oh, so fun to see this today. Any day is a good day for a love poem. I don’t have a favourite, but I am glad to re-read this one today. And I’m going to share with someone I love, too.
What a great idea, Michelle — & perhaps one we should keep in mind for the Tuesday Poem Hub next February 14th: waddya reckon? 😉
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove.”
etc, etc
Yes, please, I love the classical poems. Thank you for your posts, always interesting.
I shall try to keep them coming.:)