Sonnet XVIII, by William Shakespeare

15 July 2024 by Jian Zhi Qiu

Quote from Dear Su Yen pp.57-60

William Shakespeare is famous for his sonnets as well as for his plays. The Shakespearean sonnets and the Elizabeth Barret-Browning sonnets are two of the best known collections of sonnets in English poetry. If you have studied the little article on prosody, or how to make poems, (I'm sure you have) you know that all sonnets have fourteen lines; however, the rhyming pattern may vary. In particular, in Italian style sonnets the last two lines do not rhyme, as you can see in Elizabeth's sonnet; in English Elizabethan, or Shakespearean, sonnets they do. The form of a sonnet is that the first eight lines set the background, or build up the idea for the sonnet, and the last six lines resolve the idea; the last two lines state the conclusion. I feel that when the last two lines do rhyme the conclusion is stated with greater force-like two hammer blows!

In Shakespeare's sonnet, Shall I compare thee to a summer's day, he first develops the theme that in fact a summer day does not last forever, but changes (eight lines); in the last six lines he resolves this by saying that as a result of his poetry, however, this person will be remembered always: the last two lines sum this up with great force. Elizabeth uses the first eight lines and a half to state what her life was like (she should not have used that extra half line, but perhaps it does not matter) and the last five and a half to show how the problem was resolved. But I don't find the last two lines mellifluous (that is, they do not flow sweetly) for three reasons: first, they do not rhyme, but that is correct for an Italian sonnet; second, they are not musical or beautiful, but that was done for poetic effect, and, third, I don't like the choice of words: would a man's voice ring like silver? I think it makes him sound like a large expensive clock striking the hour: 'The silver answer rang ...' or a dinner gong maybe! Or perhaps that is what she meant. These are only my personal preferences, but I have tried to give reasons for my choices.

You will have to judge for yourself what you like and how you understand it.

You say you are puzzled by words like 'thee' and "thou: these are the old forms of you' which were used when speaking to one person only and were less formal than 'you'. You do need to understand these words quite often when reading poetry. They are no longer shown in most books of English grammar, but are quite easy to use. "Thou is the subject of a sentence: "Thou art more fair' means 'You are more fair'; 'thee' is the object: 'Shall I compare thee' means 'Shall I compare you'; 'thy,' as you already know, shows possession: 'thy father,' means, "your father'; 'thine' is used before a vowel, 'thine eyes,' means, 'your eyes'; it can also stand alone: 'I give thee what is thine' means 'I give you what is yours'. In the past, poets used these words naturally as it was the everyday way of speaking, but by the nineteenth century many poets used them to create what they thought would be an old-fashioned feel to their poems. In part this was due to the Romantic style which often tried to recreate a mediaeval atmosphere. This can sometimes be irritating, especially when the subject of the poem is not mediaeval. For example, here is just the first stanza, or verse, of the well-known Ode to a Skylark by Shelley who was born in 1792 and lived for just thirty years. He is many people's favourite English poet. An ode, you remember, is a poem which praises something. Here he is praising the skylark, a tiny English bird which in summer hovers so high in the clear blue sky that you cannot see him; yet his song is beautiful and so strong that he can be heard on the ground. The skylark's song is a popular symbol of the English countryside. Lark Ascending is a beautiful and evocative piece of music by Ralph Vaughn-Williams, a very English composer; I hope you will hear it one day.

Ode to a Skylark, by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).

That second line means, 'Bird you never were,' or perhaps, 'surely you cannot be just a bird'. I have always found that 'wert' ugly, although it is correct old English, as is 'thou'. Perhaps it was the only word he could think of to rhyme with heart and art. He means this beautiful song surely cannot come from a mere little bird, but must come from a happy spirit.

Anyway, here is a one of Shakespeare's best-loved sonnets.

Sonnet XVIII, by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Here I feel the old-fashioned, or archaic, language seems natural and beautiful.