When thinking about english liturature one of the greatest writers of all time comes to mind, WIlliam Shakespear. Shakespear was born on or around April 23, 1564 according to the record from the Holy Trinity. Although only living until 1616 Shakespear wrote many things. Among some of those things written were his ever famous sonnets. A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem usually in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme. The Shakespearean sonnet has three four-line stanzas and a two-line unit called a couplet. Of these sonnets one of the greatest he has ever written was sonnet number 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?". This sonnet contains a theme of beauty and of love and has a content comapring his lovers external beauty to that of the beauty which he sees in nature. .
In the very first stanza "Shall i compare thee to a summer's day?" Shakespear is saying shall i compare you to the beauty of nature which i see around me. The summers day in line 1 extends throughout the sonnet to the month of May in line 3 and the whole season of summer in line 4. There are also several alliterations to this sonnet. The Sh sound threads through the poem, with shall, shake and short. The to sound is also used several times. For example with to and too. .
In the second stanza begining with "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines" Shakespear is saying that nature too is imperfect, with too hot a sun and too low a light. There is a pun on summertime in Sometime and sometime, resembling the word summer but also alluding to summer only being some time rather than the eternity that the subject represents. The Sh alliteration continues with shines and To alliteration continues with too. .
In the third stanza begining with "But thy eternal summer shall not fade" Shakespear is saying that his lover is an eternal and perfect shining summer who will keep that beauty forever within this sonnet. Sh alliteration continues with shall, shall and shade.