Hi, I'm Rebecca Balcarcel.
Let's take a look at Sonnet 18.
This is Shakespeare's famous, "Shall I Compare
Thee to Summer's Day?"
The first thing we need to say is that
this poem is directed to man.
In fact he's called the "young man."
And whether this means Shakespeare's gay,
uh, we really don't know.
Does it mean he's bisexual?
We don't know.
Is he writing for a woman, on- you know, on
a woman's behalf to the man?
We don't know.
So that's just a question that has to remain
open.
But we do
know that this poem is addressed to a man.
Draw your own conclusions.
So it starts out, "Shall I compare thee to
a Summer's Day?"
Now before we go any further, I need
to tell you that this references a common
phrase -- like a cliche, a saying -- that
was common in the Renaissance, and let me
read what that is.
It was, "As good as
one shall see in a summer's day," which means
as good as it gets, you know, as good as the
very best.
"As good as one shall see in a summer's day."
So when
Shakespeare's audience heard this, they would
naturally be thinking of that phrase, like,
"Oh, this is echoing that saying."
So it would be kind of familiar to them.
Alright, now this video's going to be pretty
long, because Shakespeare packs so much into
this poem, and it's going to take us a while
to work through the whole thing.
I'll just read two lines at a time, and try
to, you know, unfold as much as I can.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Though are more lovely and more temperate."
So he starts out by saying, "Well, should
I compare you to a summer's day?" which is
normally something people think of as very
good, very pleasant.
And he says, "Oh,
but no, you're more lovely than that, and
you're more temperate."
I want to highlight this word "temperate."
It means more, um, moderated.
Uh, tempus refers to time.
Tempus is the latin for time.
So, the- the- the beloved is more measured
and more moderated than the usual summer day,
which might be kind of reckless and wild.
Steady
would be another association with temperate.
Steady.
It's like the word "tempo," where you've got
a nice regular rhythm going.
The beloved is more like this than like
a summer's day.
Now there's another reason why this word "temperate"
is appropriate appearing here in line two.
And that is that because the word is related
to the
word "time," we can tell already that this
poem's theme will be all about time, time
going by, whether things endure or don't endure.
That's a theme throughout the
poem.
Okay, so thou art more lovely and more temperate.
"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of
May, and Summer's lease hath all to short
a date."
So here's some
more reasons why you're better than a summer's
day, my love.
Uh, rough winds come along and shake the buds
on the trees or bushes, and Summer's lease
is short.
That means that, uh, the summer has an expiration
date.
The lease has all too short a date, a date
after which it ends.
So summer is limited in how long it lasts.
And this is a drawback.
Next two lines: "Sometime, too hot the eye
of heaven shines, and often is his gold complexion
dimmed."
Okay, so sometimes the sun, the eye of
heaven is the sun, it's too hot.
And at other times its complexion is dimmed.
So the golden light of the sun is dimmed,
and the gold complexion, either by clouds
or
by the setting of the sun every day.
So again we have this "time is passing" kind
of thing.
The sun, I can't compare you to that because,
for one, it's too hot, and
for another, it sets and it goes away, and
it gets dim.
"And every fair from fair sometime declines,
by chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;"
I think these
are the two hardest lines in the poem.
Uh, "every fair from fair sometime declines."
So every beauty (that fair means to be beautiful,
right?) um, but all of that
beauty will decline, ultimately.
So fair from some perfect height of beauty
will decline to a lesser beauty, and fair
from fair declines.
So there's a, you know, a
falling off of beauty over time.
Okay next two lines: "By-" Oh, I'm sorry!
"...by chance, or nature's changing course,
untrimmed;" I forgot that one.
Uh, so how is this
declining happening?
It's either happening by chance, that just
from events by chance, that your beauty will
be reduced, and maybe, you know, literally
with an accident
or disease or something.
But what is this untrimmed thing?
Nature's changing course is going to untrim
you.
Well, if you've ever decorated a Christmas
tree, then you
know that we use the word "trim" to refer
to decorating.
So you trim the tree, you ornament the tree,
you decorate the tree.
So nature is going to untrim beauty.
That means that all of us, as we go through
time, just the normal course of nature, is
going to unornament us.
You know, untrim us.
We're going to be less decorated
and less pretty, less beautiful, as nature's
course goes along.
And nature's course also is changing, so it's
not steady and reliable.
We have an unpredectibility to
nature, and that is, you know, all the events
of our lives are going to untrim us and make
us less physically beautiful anyway.
Okay, now the next two lines: "But..."
Now, all up to now we've been listing all
the reasons why my beloved is not like a summer's
day.
She's- or he is better than
a summer's day.
But here we have a turn in the poem: "But
thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose
possession of that fair thou ow'st."
Okay, so your eternal
summer is not going to fade.
So there's something inherently beautiful
about you that's going to stay the same, and
is going to endure and last.
Nor are you going
to lose possession of that particular kind
of beauty you have, the fair thou ow'st.
Now let me talk about the word "ow'st."
There's a- an apostrophe in there, which
indicates a missing letter.
So the real word should be, "the beauty that
thou ownest."
The beauty that belongs to you, that you have,
is going to- is going to last.
So it says, um, "you will not lose possession
of that fair, that particular beauty, that
thou ownest."
However, because that 'n' is left out...
I mean he could have
just written "ownest" but he wrote "ow'st"
which leaves out the 'n'.
So we have to think, "well, is there another
meaning with ow'st, meaning that you owe something?"
And there is.
You render back, you give back, uh, you owe
your beauty.
It's not going to stay, you have to give it
back.
So as time goes by, superficial beauty is
going
to be given up, and, you know, returned.
It's kind of like, you just get to borrow
it, and now you have to give it back.
So in the same word, we have the "ownest,"
what
you own eternally and forever, and also what
you owe, what you have to give up.
All in the same word you have this transitoriness
and this permenance, uh, you know,
wrapped up in this one word.
So, so cool.
Shakespeare's amazing.
Okay.
Moving on, "Nor shall death brag thou wand�rest
in his shade, when in eternal lines to Time
thou grow�st."
Alright, so here's another thing, that death
is not going
to be able to brag that you are wandering
in his shade.
Death is personified here as if he's some
kind of person who's going to brag, like,
"Ooh, I've got you!"
But
no, he's not going to be able to do that,
because you, the lover, are going to be grown
into time through eternal lines.
So, hold on a second.
"Nor shall death brag
thou wand'rest in his shade."
And by the way, shade is like the shadow of
death, you know, death has a darkness, and
death will not say, "oh, here you are wandering
in
my shade."
And why are you not going to be truly dead?
Because you're going to be grown into time
with these eternal lines.
It says, "when in eternal lines to Time
thou grow'st."
Now, how can this be?
Well, the- the lines refer to, um, a couple
of things.
This- this word is replete.
Okay, so first of all it is that you're going
to be grown into Time, as if Time is a stream
and you're going to be joining that stream
and preserved for ever more.
Now what kind of line would let you be joined
with time.
Well, lines of descent, lineage.
Your DNA can, if you have children, will go
on forward in time, and in that way you're
preserved.
So lines of descent,
lines of heredity, will let you join with
the eternal Time, capital Time, you know the
stream of time that's flowing forward.
Lines also can refer to a lifeline, uh,
in Shakespeare's time they often thought of
the life as a string that was cut by fate
at the moment of death.
So as soon as fate decides to cut your string,
your life
line, then your earthly life is over.
So that line is going to be, you know, woven
into the fabric of time, and then you'll-
you'll join in the time.
Uh, I think the
lines of lineage is a more primary meaning
in this- in this line here.
In this, you know, piece.
In the work.
But, uh, there's a third line that I wanna
mention.
The meaning as a cord, as a rope that ties
something, that makes sense because if we're
talking about, uh, a process of grafting my
individual life onto the, kind of,
eternally flowing life of the planet, you
know, through DNA my life will join with time...
Um, that's a grafting process, and, uh, people
who know about plants know
that you have to use cords and string to kind
of smush one stem onto a larger one, and it
will eventually grow into one plant.
So that's the third meaning of the word
"line" here.
Uh, lineage, lifeline, and cords.
So let me read it again.
"Nor shall death brage thou wand'rest in his
shade, when in eternal lines to Time thou
grow'st."
Okay, so these are all why you're not like
a summer's day that ends, because you're going
to continue.
"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
so long lives
this, and this gives life to thee."
Now what is "this?"
"This" is the poem.
So long as men as...
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
so long lives this
poem, and this poem gives life to you.
So you will be eternally preserved in the
poem.
And now we have a fourth meaning of the word
"line," which would be lines of
poetry.
Isn't that cool?
Um, wow.
Now one last thing I wanna show you...
Um, here's a list of some of the words that
are in this poem: shines, dimmed, declines,
fade, shade.
This shows a progression of the sun setting,
and it's also a
progression of life passing from shining to
dimming, declining, all the way down to shade,
the shade of death.
So, while this feels like a love poem -- and
it is, uh,
it's addressed to the beloved -- it's more
than just a love poem, uh, it's more of comment
on what lasts, what's eternal, and what is
not lasting, not eternal.
Time
ha- destroys things, but also some things
are preserved.
And in this case, he's saying, "You, the beloved,
will be preserved in my poem, and also you'll
be preserved
in your descendants, uh, you know, in the
traits that you hand down to your descendants.
Uh, and in this way, you are way better than
a summer's day."
Alright.
Phew!
I hope you enjoyed that little trip through
the poem, and join me for another poem on
another day.
Thanks a lot!
