Shall I Compare Thee SAQs / short questions

          Shall I Compare Thee (SAQs/ short questions)

1. What is the tone of the first line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”/ Why did the poet say “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

Ans. The poet seeks to compare the praiseworthy beauty and virtue of his beloved friend with the summer’s day,a symbol of youth and beauty. This erotesis on one hand radiates a tone of love and admiration for the friend,on the other, reveals the poet's dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of nature as a metaphor for his beloved friend as nothing can justifiably suffice the beauty and virtue of the fair friend. 

2. Why did the poet say “Thou art more lovely and more temperate”?

Ans. Summer is considered a metaphor of beauty and youth. So the poet sought to compare his friend with the summer's day but, to the poet, his friend is more desirable and temperate than the summer which is both scorching and inconstant. 

3. What does the rough winds do ? 

Ans. The rough winds shake the “darling buds” which embellishes the beauty of the month of May. This rough winds are a characteristic aspect of summer which the poet considers to be less lovely and temperate than his beloved friend.

4. “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” What does the poet mean by it? 

Ans. The word “lease” is a legal term that connotes both duration and property. Summer, despite its beauty and splendour is transitory, so as its properties (i.e, the flowers ,fruits and nature’s extravaganza). This temporality of summer juxtaposes the permanence of the friend’s youthful beauty and virtue. Shakespeare's use of this legal and monetary term “lease” contextualizes the budding capitalistic society of his time.

5. What does the phrase “eye of heaven” mean ? 

Ans. The circumlocutory phrase “eye of heaven” means the sun which is considered as the heaven’s eye because of its centrality and lustre. 

6. Why does the poet not want to compare his friend with the sun ? 

Ans. The sun despite its lustre can not sufficiently metaphorize the fair youth as either sometimes it shines too intensely or sometimes, the sun's golden color becomes obscured. Thus the sun does not stand for the constancy with which the fair youth is endowed. 

7. “And often is his gold complexion dimmed;” What does the word “complexion” stand for ?

 

Ans. In Shakespeare's time "complexion" carried both outward and inward meanings. The first meaning is more obvious: a negative change in the outer appearance.The second meaning of "complexion" would communicate that the beloved's inner, cheerful, and temperate disposition is constant, unlike the sun, which may be blotted out on a cloudy day. Therefore, his comparison with the sun is unlikely. 

8. “And every fair from fair sometimes declines,”. What does the poet mean here ? 

Ans. In this line Shakespeare juxtaposes the idea of beauty and mutability by using pun on “fair”. The first “fair” is an adjective denoting the beauty of the beautiful object, implied by the second fair which is an example of a noun. He asserted that however beautiful an object is, it is always liable to be destroyed in due course of time. 

9. “By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;” what does the poet mean by this line ? 

Ans. This line creates an oxymoron by implying the unchanging change of nature,i e, everything beautiful eventually fades either by chance or by the natural progression of time. This line contains a volta, or shift in the poem's subject matter by shifting the tone from the mutability of the first eight lines, into the eternity of the last six. 

10. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade”. What does the poet mean by the eternal summer ? 

Ans. The “ eternal summer” which stands for beauty and youth, is enduring and consistent in the friend as the poet will immortalize it through his poetic prowess. This juxtaposes the lustre of the sun which is under the threat of time.

11. “Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,” what does ‘fair’ mean here ? 

Ans. The ‘fair’ here stands for the beauty and virtue of the friend that he possesses. 

12. What does the word “ow’st” imply in the following line “Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,”? 

Ans. Ow'st" can carry two meanings, 

: "ownest" and "owest". "Owe", in Shakespeare's day, was sometimes used as a synonym for "own". Thus, "ow’st" conveys the idea that the beauty and the virtue the friend possesses is not temporal as the beauty of the other aspects of nature that is faded in due course of time.

13. “Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,”How is death personified in this line ? 

Ans. Death is personified here as being endowed with human actions, like the act of bragging. Thus,it is implied that death,being a tangible entity, fails to claim victory over the friend,as the latter will be effectively resistant to the passage of time through the poetic venture of the poet. 

14. “When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.” What do “eternal lines” suggest ? 

Ans. The phrase “eternal lines” connotes two senses—-- the poetic lines and the lines of progeny. This sonnet, often being considered as an extended procreation sonnet, implies that the fair friend will remain immortal both through his progeny( who will carry forward his beauty and virtue) and the immortal lines of poetry.

15. Why is comparing the poet's friend to a summer's day inappropriate in Sonnet 18?

Ans. Comparing the poet's friend to a summer's day seems inappropriate to the poet because the eternal dispositions of the beloved are "more lovely and more temperate” than the summer, which can be too hot, dim, and fleeting.

16. What does "sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines" mean in Sonnet 18?

Ans. The poet, in an attempt to compare his friend’s beauty and virtue with the summer, brings forth the reference of the sun through the phrase ‘eye of heaven’. But the sun shines too intensely creating a feeling of discomfort, while his friend is “more temperate”. Therefore such comparison seems unlikely. 

17. What metaphors and symbols does Shakespeare use in Sonnet 18?

Ans. Shakespearean Sonnet 18 is a poet’s deliberate attempt to ascertain the eternity of his friend's beauty and virtue through a few symbols such as summer, a symbol of youth and beauty, as well as nature and the rest of the seasons, which symbolize the inevitable cycle of life and death.

18. Why does Shakespeare begin Sonnet 18 with a question?

Ans. Beginning "Sonnet 18" with a question is a rhetorical strategy of the poet to make the reader perceive the difference between transience and permanence. The poet discusses the inevitable transience of life, which is as short lived as a summer's day, but presents his own poetic creation as a solution to transcend the temporality of nature and attain eternity.

19. “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” What does ‘this’ refer to ? 

Ans. “This” refers to his poetry which he believes will endure the threat of time.The poet in the couplet comes up with the solution that only his poetry can make his friend immune to the ravages of time.

20. How is the gold complexion of the sun dimmed?

Ans. The gold complexion of the sun is dimmed by the dark clouds and it will lose its lustre. 

21. Who is ‘thee’ compared to?

Ans: The friend,referred to here as ‘thee’ is compared to a summer’s day and all other beautiful aspects of nature which are transient. Thus, the poet here posits the superiority of beauty and virtue over the aspects of nature, contrasting the predominant idea of the Petrarchan sonnets. 

22. What does the poet say about the month of May?

Ans: The poet endows the month of May with the dual aspect of life and death. On one hand, the lovely flowers do bloom at this time, on the other hand, the rough winds shudder the lovely buds of May.

23. How does the poet eulogize eternal summer?

Ans: The poet feels that summer is a season of warmth and beauty but is short lived. The only summer that endure the ravages of time is the endless youth and beauty that his friend possesses. Hence, he considers this as “eternal summer” to eulogize it. 

24. How does the poet compare eternity with mortality?

Ans: Shakespeare belongs to the time of Renaissance humanism that posits the ultimate importance of human emotions, virtues and creation. Thus, the poet considers that despite possessing the beautiful aspects, nature will lose its fairness eventually. It is only the human creation (his poetry)that will sustain itself till eternity as it is beyond the cycle of life and death.

25.  How does the poet talk about death?

Ans: In this poem William Shakespeare has personified death to be all powerful as all the creations wander in its shade and is subservient to it.