Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

In analyzing the 18th Shakespearean sonnet, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” I have come to attain a great amount of information about this poem. Let’s start with simply what the poem is saying:

Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
You are lovelier and more constant:
Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
And summer is far too short:
At times the sun is too hot,
Or often goes behind the clouds;
And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty,
By misfortune or by nature's planned out course.
But your youth shall not fade,
Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor will death claim you for his own,
Because in my eternal verse you will live forever.
So long as there are people on this earth,
So long will this poem live on, making you immortal.

Shakespeare starts by questioning whether to compare her to a summer’s day. He doesn’t realizing that she is far superior to a summer’s day. He then states the reasons that place her above a beautiful summer’s day. He describes that her traits are moderate, comfortable, and that she has welcoming qualities. The third line suggests that the rugged winds of summer can be disastrous to the buds of flowers. In saying this, he is saying that this woman possesses no such qualities to be harmful. He advances to say that summer is short and limited, while her beauty has no end, no limitations. The poem then takes us into discussion of temperature. He explains to us how the summer is hot, humid, and unbearable. He says that clouds also sometimes diminish the beauty of summer. These qualities are in complete contrast to the glamour and elegance of her. Line 7, which has a very literal meaning, communicates that everything beautiful will at a time lose its beauty. He claims that all beauty tarnishes except that of his lover. In the next line, Shakespeare essentially supports why beauty doesn’t last forever, offering that this happens by misfortune or by nature taking its course. In the next line, which is considered the turning point of the sonnet, he signals that something is changing by using the word, “but.” In the following lines Shakespeare says that her beauty will not change, fade, become lost, or die. Line 11, describes that she will never die, that death will never claim her beauty. The last three lines explain that she will not die, because her beauty will live and grow in his poem for eternity. Shakespeare is saying that as long as there are people on this earth, his poem will live along with her, making her immortal.


Shall I compare thee to(Alliteration) a summer's(Assonance) day?
Thou art more lovely and more(Internal Rhyme) temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds(Assonance) of May,
And summer's lease hath all too(Internal Rhyme) short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion(Internal Rhyme) dimm'd;
And every fair from fair(Alliteration) sometime declines(Assonance),
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall(Alliteration) not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal(Consonance) lines to time thou(Alliteration) growest(Consonance):
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see(Assonance),
So long lives this and this gives(Assonance) life to thee.