| Sonnet 18 William Shakespeare SHALL I compare thee to a summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmd;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or natures changing course, untrimmd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst;
Nor shall Death brag thou wandrest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growst.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. thee (pronoun): you (old English) thou (pronoun): you (old English) art (verb): are (old English - verb 'to be') temperate (adjective): mild; pleasant; warm do shake: note use of auxiliary 'do' in present simple positive. This is unusual but perfectly normal for stress, politeness or poetic effect. bud (noun): first growth on a plant or flower lease (noun): period, time, duration hath (verb): has (old English - verb 'to have') eye of heaven: Shakespeare is referring to the sun complexion (noun): colour; appearance fair (adjective): attractive; beautiful; handsome; lovely decline (verb): to become less; to decrease thy (adjective): your (old English) eternal (adjective): endless; everlasting; infinite; permanent fade (verb): to decrease; to decline; to dissolve brag (verb): to boast; to tell everybody triumphantly wand'rest (verb): old English - verb 'to wander': to walk without direction; to roam shade (noun): shadow; darkness; gloom; obscurity growst (verb): old English - verb 'to grow' so long: as long |