“Sonnet (18)” By William Shakespeare(1564 -1616)

Fifth Lecture
“Sonnet (18)” By William Shakespeare(1564 -1616)
This sonnet is certainly the most famous in the sequence of Shakespeare’s sonnets; it may be the most famous lyric poem in English. that doesn’t mean it is the best or most interesting of the sonnets; but the simplicity and loveliness of its praise of the beloved has guaranteed its place .In this sonnet there is a deep meaning and surface meaning. On the surface, the poem is simply a statement of praise about the beauty of the beloved; summer tends to unpleasant extremes of windiness and heat, but the beloved is always mild and temperate. The language, too, is comparatively unadorned for the sonnets; it is not heavy with alliteration or assonance, and nearly every line is its own self-contained clause almost every line ends with some punctuation, which effects a pause. While the deep meaning is Shakespeare confrontation with time. He portrays time as an enemy of love. Time destroys love because time causes beauty to fade, people to age, and life to end.

More to discuss in this Poem:
1-Themes.
2-Poetic devices.
3-Images.
4-Treatment with time .