Shakespeare's Sonnets (18, 23. 33. 130)


Sonnet 18

This is possibly Shakespeare's most famous sonnet.  It starts with a rhetorical question: should he compare the person in 
question (the subject) to a summer's day?  A rhetorical question is one that does not expect an answer.  In fact the next
line suggests that the subject is lovelier than a summer's day.  Summer can have rough winds and it can be brief; 
sometimes it is too hot, and sometimes its brightness ("gold complexion") is dimmed by this or that.  At line 9, the poet 
tells the subject that he will have an "eternal summer" (the subject, by the way, is a young man).  In other words he will 
always be young and attractive - and he will also escape death.  How will this happen?  The "eternal lines" (line 12) of 
Shakespeare's poem will make him live for ever.












Sonnet 23

This is also addressed to the young man.  The poet compares himself to an actor who has not learned his lines properly.
And so, because of his fear on the stage, he forgets to play his part (to act his role properly:

		So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
		The perfect ceremony of love's rite

The poet fears that his love is not being returned by the young man.  Some critics think this may refer to the idea that 
another poet is winning the patronage of the young man.   The poet then urges the young man to interpret his silence 
and his inability to speak as a sign of his love.










Sonnet 33

The poet's fears in sonnet 23 have come true.  The young man has given his favours (money and time and affection) to 
another poet.  The poem starts by noting that many times the poet has seen a glorious beautiful morning, with sunny 
skies and green meadows.  Often, though, clouds suddenly come out and turn the beautiful day into an ugly day.  At 
line 9, the poet says that this very thing has happened to him ("Even so ...").  His sun (ie the joy of his life) was destroyed
within an hour by clouds that turned his life from joy to grief.  The final couplet confirms that the poet still loves the
young man ("my love no whit disdaineth" = my love to no extent diminishes) and the poem ends with the idea that if 
the heaven's themselves may be spoiled by clouds, then ordinary people like him ("Suns of the world" is a pun on "son")
can also have their happiness destroyed.












Sonnet 130

This poem is addressed to a lady.  It rejects the falseness that is so often associated with sonnet writing.  In sonnets,
women are often compared to beautiful objects and are given extreme praise.  But here, the poet rejects all these false
comparisons, and does so to show that his love and appreciation of the woman are sincere.  She is not like the sun; her 
lips are not as red as coral; her breasts are not as white as snow ("dun" = grey); her cheeks are not like roses; her breath 
is not like perfume; her voice is not like music; she is not a goddess.  Yet, he concludes, the love he has for her is
"rare" (= very deep and sincere).













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