Sonnet 18

1. What makes a good LOVE POEM?
Prepared by :
Ms. Leena Sadeq

2. What is a sonnet ?
A sonnet is any 14 line poem.
The two main sonnet forms are the Petrarchan (Italian) and the
Shakespearean (English ) sonnets. Each of these has a specific form.
The Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains (four lines)
with a concluding couplet. The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

3. Reading Sonnets:
In many Shakespearean sonnets, the first quatrain
introduces the problem or question, the second
quatrain expounds upon it, the third quatrain
introduces a resolution, and the couplet provides a
final commentary on the problem or sums up the
proposed resolution.

4. William Shakespeare
Although Shakespeare is best known for his plays, he was
also a brilliant poet.
When Shakespeare began his career in the 1590s, the sonnet
was a literary fashion in England, usually written as a longing
tribute to a faraway beloved. In fact, many of Shakespeare’
sonnets are addressed to a “dark lady” whose identity has
never been discovered.

5. 1st quatrain
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
Should I compare you to a
summer’s day?
The youth’s beauty is more
gentle and calm than the
beauty of a summer day.
Strong winds shake the
beautiful bud of the early
summer
Summer has a deadline
which is too short
(LEASE: time)
Alliteration
Extended metaphor comparing his
beloved to a summer day.

6. 2ND QUATRAIN
Sometime too hot the eye
of heaven shines
And often is his gold
complexion dimmed
And every fair from fair
sometime decline
By chance, or nature’s
changing course
untrimmed
Sometimes the sun shines
too hot
And frquent clouds
sometimes make the sun
fade
Nothing stays beautiful
forever
By chance or by the
changing course of the
nature
A
Personification

7. 3RD QUATRAIN
But thy eternal summer shall not
fade
Nor lose possession of that fair
thou owest
Nor shall death brag thou wander's
in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou
growest
His beloved’ s beauty will last
and will never lose the beauty she
possess
And she will never die
as long as there are people to
read the poem

8. Final couplet
So long as men can
breathe, or eyes can see
So long lives this, and
this gives life to thee.
As long as people live and
breathe, as long as eyes can
see it
That is how long these verses
will live, celebrating you ,
and continually renewing
you life.
Assonance

9. A. The second quatrain describes the faults of summer days—
too much heat (line 5) and frequent clouds (line 6)—and the
fact that nothing stays beautiful forever (lines 7–8).
B. The rhyme scheme is the same as that of the first two quatrains
of Shakespeare’s sonnet: abab cdcd.
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