Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
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.
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Fliss: So here we are with William Shakespeare himself, John, and it is, of course, a great honour. I should begin by mentioning that although I’m familiar with this sonnet I’ve never really studied it in detail, so I hope you’ll be patient with me! I can say with confidence that this is a Shakespearean sonnet, intended as iambic pentameter. What I don’t know, is who the speaker is addressing, whether this is anyone specific in his life. Perhaps you can provide a little enlightenment?
John: Well met again, Fliss! So, I have put on my Shakespeare hat and delved into the realm of Shakespeare lore. Shakespeare’s sonnets are dedicated in manuscript to ’Mr. W.H.’, and it is traditional to view this Sonnet 18, like most of the sonnets, as written for a Fair Youth: perhaps Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, who was a patron; perhaps William Hughes, who played female roles in Shakespeare‘s plays. That was Oscar Wilde‘s theory.
F: Oh, that’s interesting, John. So, is it supposed that the speaker is somewhat interested in men? We appreciate the hat, by the way!
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J: Yes indeed, it adds some unexpected zest to the poetry! It’s often suggested that Shakespeare himself was bisexual, and that may well be. I believe he had at least one child, and in fact, some think the Fair Youth of the sonnets was his son. That seems a bit unlikely.
F: It does a bit, yes. I read that Shakespeare’s son was called Hamnet for one thing, which doesn’t match the initials unless W. planted his own at the front. I read also that Hamnet died when he was just 11 years old, which is terribly sad. So perhaps other readers are tapping into themes of eternity through the sonnet, but the overall vibe strikes me as more romantic love than fatherly. What do you think, John?
J: Yes, with regard to the initials, ’H.S.’ would make more sense in that case. I’ve heard it suggested that Hamlet was named after him. My own feeling is that if the boy died aged 11, summer is not really appropriate; one would sooner think of spring. To me, it suggests a young adult. So like you I feel the addressee is older, and then later in the sonnet cycle it becomes clear, at least to me, that the speaker has sex on his mind: and that as soon as Sonnet 35, which opens “No more be grieved at that which thou hast done: / Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud.” I don’t think that’s addressed to a son. Let’s add at the last that the summer’s day is seen as passing and transitory, whereas this sonnet will endure, Horace’s old theme, coming here after the volta in the last six lines. The passing nature of summer seems paralleled in the transience of youth – beauty fades – but as we’ve argued, it’s probably not about a child who died aged 11.
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F: You present a solid case against addressee-as-son, John. I have to mention, my experience of academic arguments is that they can be made merely to sustain interest in one’s field rather than to seek the truth. And it seems quite an oversight not to consider the content of the entire sonnet cycle! Perhaps we could turn briefly to Horace now, a writer I’ve heard of yet haven’t read. Did he have things to say about Art’s endurance, maybe?
J: Thank you, Fliss! With regard to those academic arguments, I agree, a great deal of noise is made simply to show that one is putting in the hours and is part of the club. I like, as Einstein said, to keep things as simple as possible but not simpler. And you are, I think, quite right, the entire sonnet cycle tells a tale!
Horace is one of the great Roman poets. At least, he’s been canonical for a couple of millennia and I enjoyed reading him at school and then as an adult. He wrote “exegi monumentum aere perennius,” or “I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze”, which turned out to be the case. Ronsard, 1500 years later, plays with that theme in his sonnet ’Quand tu seras bien vieille’, and then Yeats semi-translated Ronsard four centuries after that to write his lovely three-stanza poem, “When you are old and grey and full of sleep”, which closes, “But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you.” So it’s a common theme, how poetry outlasts matter, including the beloved. Shakespeare uses it nicely here.
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F: Yes indeed, John; I think we can agree that our friend did a good job. Thanks for those notes on Horace, Ronsard, and Yeats too! It seems Horace had quite a lot of confidence in his abilities; perhaps he drew considerable crowds during his lifetime. I hadn’t heard of Ronsard, but I know a few things about Yeats. The theme appeals to me mostly for personal reasons, I think. Maybe, next time, we could take a look at a later sonnet and see how the cycle develops. Doesn’t a lady turn up at some stage?
J: Ah! Well, yes, I too remembered a lady showing up later, and a quick visit to Prof. Wiki confirms that sonnets 127–154 are traditionally ascribed to a Dark Lady, as opposed to the Fair Youth sonnets prior to that point. Shakespeare wrote rather a lot of sonnets! And yes, Horace was I think very confident in his art. He also said to put your work in a drawer for nine years, so he believed in craft. Ronsard wrote just a little before Shakespeare, during the French Renaissance. It's always nice, I think, when a theme speaks to us! And this is a good one.
F: Yes, it’s an excellent theme, John. I’m not so sure about putting work in a drawer for nine years, though. What if a person dies during that time? Or the drawer is invaded by moths? Anyway, hooray for Horace, as we certainly believe in craft at WM! I look forward to meeting the Dark Lady next month, and many thanks for this discussion, John. I’ve learned a lot!
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J: I am glad you’ve enjoyed the chat! Let us not wait nine years before our next instalment. Moths are everywhere!
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A full biography of William Shakespeare is available at the Poetry Foundation, here.
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