Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

When you hear “Shakespeare,” what is your first thought? For most of us, it’s probably all the times we were forced to read his plays for some high school English class; it’s virtually impossible to graduate without having read at least one, like Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth. But while many of us tend to associate him with boring English assignments, the reality is that this guy was kind of a beast at writing poems.

His signature style of poetry is what is now known as the “Shakespearean sonnet.” These poems contain fourteen lines and must be written in what is known as iambic pentameter, which means that there are alternating unstressed and stressed syllables in a line (like this: “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”) Not only that, but the rhyme scheme of the fourteen lines is super specific and goes like this: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Basically, each of the three stanzas has lines that rhyme every other time, and then the poem concludes with a rhyming couplet, which is just two lines.

Sound complicated yet? Not surprising—the sonnet is one of the most difficult forms of poetry to write. I had to write one for an English assignment a few years ago and definitely felt the struggle as I tried to complete it. But Shakespeare felt no such struggle and wrote 154 of these poems! This week on Dead Poets Society, we’re going to take a look at a few of his most notable sonnets.

First up is actually his first ever sonnet, aptly numbered as ‘Sonnet 1.’ All of Shakespeare’s sonnets are numbered, but are also referred to by their first line. Here is the sonnet in all its glory:

“From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed’st thy light’st flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content
And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding.

Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.”

This sonnet contains themes of beauty and love and life, but basically has the message that pretty people should procreate so as to preserve the world’s beauty (“That thereby beauty’s rose might never die.) Such a warm message!

While that sonnet may seem a bit blunt, the theme of beauty through time is one that is often explored in his sonnets. Take, for example, ‘Sonnet 18,’ which is one of the most famous Shakespearean sonnets of all time. This poem comes from the play Romeo and Juliet and has since become a common reference in pop culture. Even those who have not read the play will recognize these lines:

“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.”

This sonnet is actually quite romantic; Romeo is basically saying that Juliet is very pretty, comparing her beauty to that of summer. But while the beauty of summertime will eventually fade into autumn, Juliet’s beauty (“thy eternal summer”) will never fade away. How endearing!

Finally, we have one of my personal favorites by Shakespeare, ‘Sonnet 130,’ or ‘My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun.’ In a way, this sonnet is almost a parody of the language used in ‘Sonnet 18,’ and Shakespeare makes fun of the way women are usually described in poetry with their beauty being comparable to various elements of nature. He also uses exaggerated terms to convey how pretty they are. He essentially says that his mistress is ugly, but that he loves her for other aspects besides her looks. Here is this humorous sonnet:

“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.”

While Shakespeare may have been able to write sonnets at the drop of a hat, the rest of us, unfortunately, are not so lucky. However, we can still take the time to appreciate him for the talent he was, even if he is the bane of our English class existence. Happy reading!