Poetry Analysis of Shakespeare\'s Sonnet 18

Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, is an exercise in self-proclaiming metaphoric style. The intent of the sonnet is to show off the writer's skill at turning words and not the expressed topic of the poem, the ability to use every summer-related metaphor he can to discuss not his love, perhaps, but the subject of his expression. While many interpretations of this sonnet assert that it is a love-poem, that it is a dedication or ode to a specific woman, it can be clearly stated that the poem is not about love, but about the central metaphor itself - as though the subject is simply an exercise. As an exercise in the use of metaphor to describe the objectified woman at the center of the work, Sonnet 18, is perhaps the primary archetypal demonstration of overdone, syrupy, and quite saccharine expressions that are likely to appeal to the "hopeless" romantic.

Sonnet 18, takes place in the present and encompasses no time, space, or location. The entire body of the sonnet is focused on the delivery of language and, as such, it has no substance - as though Shakespeare were making fun of the genre and the typical fare. The poem consists entirely of a description of a person (the subject) using summer-related metaphors. The poem begins with the establishment of the theme, the comparison of the subject to a "summer's day." It then employs metaphors involving weather, nature, temporal space, color, the nature of youth and aging, affect and personality, and eternity. The intent of these metaphors is to use both physical and abstract relationships to the subject in a single comprehensive use of the established context.

This is an observation poem, one taken from an almost exclusively internal and thus private view of the subject. At the same time, it is a near-perfect exercise in the imposition of a formal structure upon a subject that, by its very nature, cannot truly be contained within that kind of cage. For example, by taking up the subject in the very first line, "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?" The writer is establishing that the poem indeed will be structured within the stated context. Thus, the metaphor structure of the poem is also established - in this one line, we know exactly what will take place and can delight in the participation that our imagination takes along with us as we read.

There is a clear deference to the subject in the poem. "But thy eternal summer shall not fade." Here the author is indicating that while time and seasons change, and summer is considered to be the peak of a life, the memory of the subject will remain centered on this time now. It also indicates an awareness of a deeper attractiveness in the subject that seemingly transcends time. The intent, in the last half of the sonnet, is to demonstrate that the beauty, the nature, the temperament, and the heart of the subject is so pure, so wonderful, and so divine as to be truly eternal. This, of course, can be said of anyone regardless of emotional attachment, and nowhere in the poem is it said that the author loves his subject, or even knows his subject beyond this moment. Thus, the temporal relationship between author and subject cannot be determined - the poem exists, perhaps, in a wave of immediate infatuation where romantic feelings can explode upon you and the sense of the other is so blinding and all-encompassing and are also completely unrealistic, blinding, and prone to overstatement and exaggeration. This, clearly, is the case with this poem.

The tone of the poem is quite respectful and reverential. It takes an absolutely non-lascivious approach to the subject (and infatuations and attractions naturally bring up those kinds of feelings). Instead, the comparative terms used focus upon comparing the subject to the beauty of nature, the essence of summer (bright, sunny, hot, exciting, and happy), and within the context of time. What results is an even, mature, and well managed tone to the poem - no word jars, no thought is incongruent with the previous or the next. It also indicates a clear and honest awareness that the subject is not young "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,/And often is his gold complexion dimm'd."

The speaker is clearly mature, understanding of the nature of time, and is reflective. It is almost as though he is imagining himself and the subject together on some sun-drenched hill where the subject is exposed to full view (no shadows to obscure here) and can find no faults. This can seem like an appraisal - a flattery designed to woo, but wooing rarely involves an acknowledgement of the passing of time (unless the subject herself is aware of her aging and is equally accepting of the natural process. "But thy eternal summer shall not fade / Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest:."