SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER´S DAY (By William Shakespeare)

 

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

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.

VOCABULARY

   thee (pronoun): you (old English)
thou (pronoun): you (old English)
art (verb): are (old English - verb 'to be')
temperate (adjective): mild; pleasant; warm
do shake: note use of auxiliary 'do' in present simple positive. This is unusual but perfectly normal for stress, politeness or poetic effect.
bud (noun): first growth on a plant or flower
lease (noun): period, time, duration

   dim (verb)  (make something) become less bright )atenuar

    untrimmed (adj)- not having been trimmed (= made tidier)  (desaliñado)

hath (verb): has (old English - verb 'to have')
eye of heaven: Shakespeare is referring to the sun
complexion (noun): colour; appearance
fair (adjective): attractive; beautiful; handsome; lovely
decline (verb): to become less; to decrease
thy (adjective): your (old English)
eternal (adjective): endless; everlasting; infinite; permanent
fade (verb): to decrease; to decline; to dissolve
brag (verb): to boast; to tell everybody triumphantly
wand'rest (verb): old English - verb 'to wander': to walk without direction; to roam
shade (noun): shadow; darkness; gloom; obscurity
growst (verb): old English - verb 'to grow'
so long: as long

POEM ANALYSIS

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