Shakespeare Sonnet

Shakespearian Sonnet

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:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Modern Translation

OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer day
But, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calm
Because sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get shaken off
And sometimes summer doesn't last very long
Sometimes it's too hot
And everything gorgeous loses its looks
By getting hit by a truck Or just because everyone and everything gets old and ugly and shabby
BUT (and here's the turn) you're going to keep your looks for ever
Your beauty will last for ever
I'm going to make sure that you never lose your good looks
And that nasty old Death can never brag about owning you
Because I shall write this poem about you
As long as men can breathe (are you breathing?)
As long as men can see (are you looking at this poem?)
Then this poem lives, and it gives life and memory to your beauty

Rules of an Shakespearian Sonnet: Shakespearean Sonnet consists of 14 lines written in iambic pentameter divided into 3 quatrains and 1 couplet. Shakespearean Sonnets use the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. The couplet provides a final commentary on the subject that was discussed

Iambic Pentameter: lines of poetry that can be divided into 5 metric feet with alternately unstressed and stressed syllables.

Shall I/ compare/ thee to/ a sum/ mer's day

Thou art/ more lov/ly and/ more temp/orate

Breakdown this sonnet. Meaning, translate the meaning of each line into plain English. Meaning ruin the beauty of poetry so you can understand.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun (1);
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask (2), red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

1. Dun: marked by dullness

2. Damask: A firm lustrous fabric (as of linen, cotton, silk, or rayon) made with flat patterns in a satin weave on a plain-woven ground on jacquard looms.

Directions: 1. Watch The Flight of the Conchords clip. 2. List the compliments the characters use on the woman. 3. Compare and contrast to Shakespeare's style.