William Shakespeare, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

image
Reprinted by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Literature To Go, p. 492)

Listen to “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” read by Sir John Gielgud.

From The Sonnets (AUDIO) by William Shakespeare, Performed by Sir John Gielgud. Copyright (P) and © 1963, 1996 HarperCollins Publishers Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing

  1. first response. Describe the shift in tone and subject matter that begins in line 9.

  2. Why is the speaker’s loved one more lovely than a summer’s day? What qualities does he admire in the loved one?

  3. What does the couplet say about the relation between art and love?

  4. Which syllables are stressed in the final line? How do these syllables relate to the line’s meaning?