Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?

Read Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ with an explanation and modern English translation, plus a video performance.

The sonnet is possibly the most famous sonnet ever, and certainly one that has entered deeply into the consciousness of our culture. Here is the sonnet:

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 owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Want to understand the sonnet a little better? Here’s a ‘translation’ into modern English:

Shall I compare you to a summer’s day? You are more lovely and more moderate: Harsh winds disturb the delicate buds of May, and summer doesn’t last long enough. Sometimes the sun is too hot, and its golden face is often dimmed by clouds. All beautiful things eventually become less beautiful, either by the experiences of life or by the passing of time. But your eternal beauty won’t fade, nor lose any of its quality. And you will never die, as you will live on in my enduring poetry. As long as there are people still alive to read poems this sonnet will live, and you will live in it.

Now you have an understanding of what the sonnet is about, listen to Patrick Steward read the words…

OK, so if you’re still with us you will have read the sonnet, read the ‘translation’ and watched a read-through by one of the most famous Shakespeare actors around. Chances are you’ve got a pretty good understanding now of the message and meaning behind the sonnet. Try reading it through one more time…

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 owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

What do you think of sonnet 18 – understand it now? We’d love to hear your take on it, so please do get involved in the comments section below!

Common questions

What is the theme of the sonnet?

The main theme is the timelessness of love and beauty, death and immortality, and in particular the immortality of art. Also, the power of poetry over fate, death, and even love. The sonnet is concerned with the relationship between man and the eventual death he will encounter.

What’s the sonnet about?

Sonnet 18 praises a friend, traditionally known as the ‘fair youth’. The sonnet is more than just a poem – it is a real thing that guarantees that by being described in the poem the young man’s beauty will be sustained. Even death will be irrelevant because the lines of verse will be read by future generations when poet and fair youth are no more. The image will live in the verse.

Is it about a man?

Yes. This is one of a sequence of sonnets written for an unidentified young male friend of Shakespeare’s. In the sonnets, Shakespeare is urging his friend to marry and have children because his qualities and beauty are such that it would be a tragedy not to pass them on to a new generation.

Why is the sonnet so famous?

The opening line of the sonnet is one of the most quoted Shakespearean lines. It is also one of the most eloquent statements of the power of the written word. Shakespeare preserves his friend in the lines of the poem, where he will live forever, even after his natural death.