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| Sunday, 12 June 2005 |
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A/L English Literature Made Easy - Poets : William Shakespeare (born 1564 died 1616)
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?- In this sonnet, Shakespeare expresses his contemplative thoughts and emotions in a forceful manner. The sonnet shall I compare thee to a summer's day? is addressed to his young, handsome, superior rank, his patron and friend. He compares his friend to a summer's day but he finds the defects of a summer's day. The rough winds that spoil the blooming flowers. Its duration is short. Sometimes the sun is too hot and its brightness could be dimmed by a dark cloud. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of may, And summers lease hath all too short a date Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed Everything that is beautiful is subjected to decay either by natural occureneces or by uncontrolled process of nature. And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed But his friend's beauty is a contrast to the beautiful things and occurrences in nature. His eternal summer would remain unfaded. But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Death fails to take him away. He'll be shining in the poet's eternal lines. As long as Shakespeare's poetry is alive and as long as people can see and read the beauty of his friend engraved in the lines of his poem will give life to his friend. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee."Shakespeare's language style shines in an unsurpassed manner. His wording creates the appropriate imagery bringing emphasis and reality. The similies are so effective as to create the images perceived by the poet when the poet argues for and against the consequences of a summer's day - being short, sun shining too hot, gold complexion getting dimmed the poet deviates from comparing his handsome friend to a summer's day. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date, sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed. Shakespeare's deep observation of various things in nature, concepts and modes of nature are free from 'Literary Conventions'. He expresses his friend's qualities with a deep insight highlighting the truth about life and death. And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or nature's course untrimmed. The poet is reluctant to let the eternal summer and the fair thou ow'st fade away, for the poet has embedded in eternal lines to time thou grou'st" Shakespeare's sonnet consists of three four lined stanzas rhyming abab-cdcd-efef- depicting the development of ideas and brushed up by the concluding rhyming couplet g,g, So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see (g) So long lives this and this gives life to thee (g) Shakespeare has touched on the truth of life that all beautiful things are subjected to decay but his friend's eternal summer and the fair thou ow'st shall not fade away. Shakespeare's ardent desire to immortalize his friend's eternal summer and the fair thou ow'st has made him to record these qualities in his poetry lasting forever, a special feature and a conception brushed up by the rhyming couplet. The genuine feelings prevailing, in the ideas conveyed by the poet is finalised in the concluding couple highlighting the special feature found in Shakespearean sonnets. Mrs. C. Ekanayake, Retd. Specialist Teacher Eng.Lit, St. Anne's College, Kurunegala. |
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William
Shakespeare is one of the most popular and most celebrated names in
English Literature. He was a literary genius and lived in the age of
Elizabethan Drama. His poems and drama based on rather universal themes
won extreme popularity. Shakespeare's poems introduced different concepts.
His style of rhythm tone and wording enhanced the flow of the poem keeping
the theme alive. 
