Sonnet Eighteen: An Analysis Essay Example
Sonnet Eighteen: An Analysis Essay Example

Sonnet Eighteen: An Analysis Essay Example

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  • Pages: 1 (210 words)
  • Published: May 7, 2017
  • Type: Analysis
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Sonnet Eighteen is one of the most famous sonnets written by William Shakespeare.

The sonnet is about the love that another has for his lover. Many argue that the sonnet is actually written about another man, but either way it is about love. Sonnet eighteen’s theme is that even though the summer and things of nature fade in time the love felt for the subject will never die and neither will the memory of the subject. The theme of undying love and the immortality of the subject through time is achieved several ways. As the sonnet begins, an extended metaphor is made.

The speaker compares the subject to a summer’s day. The poem is written in true sonnet fashion with rhyming couplets and fourteen stanzas. There are three quatrains ending with one couplet. When read orally, the rhythmic pattern is iambic pentameter.

The theme is r

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everberated in through the makeup of the sonnet. Each quatrain builds on the other with each thought proving stronger as the poem goes on. This is symbolic of the love that the speaker has for the subject. Love usually starts out as a fleeting emotion and then gains strength as the lovers learn more about each other and build their relationship. Read about Those Winter Sundays

The iambic pentameter is also a representation of the comfortable rhythmic pattern between lovers. For someone to be remembered eternally, that person would have to be an extraordinary individual. The speaker promises that the subject will live on through the poem long after both of them have died. The comparison to a season is to illustrate that seasons come and go and that is th

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natural process of nature, but the written word will continue to express and inspire. Shakespeare wrote the poem solely to give the subject immortality.

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