Sonnet XVIII: Shall I Compare Thee (Leaving Cert English): Flashcards

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Sonnet XVIII: Shall I Compare Thee
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Central argument of Sonnet XVIII

Poetry can preserve beauty and love eternally

Four major themes in Sonnet XVIII

Love, mortality, passage of time, power of art

Opening line of Sonnet XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Meaning of 'temperate' in sonnet

Balanced and gentle

'Lease' metaphor for summer suggests

Summer is borrowed time that must end

'Eye of heaven' refers to

The sun

Word signalling the volta in line 9

But

'Eternal summer' represents

The beloved's unchanging beauty

'Eternal lines' refers to

The verses of the sonnet itself

Main idea of final couplet

Poetry preserves beauty as long as people exist to read it

Shakespearean sonnet structure

14 lines, iambic pentameter, 3 quatrains + couplet

Rhyme scheme of Shakespearean sonnet

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Why is Sonnet XVIII meta-poetic?

Reflects on its own ability to preserve what it describes

Shakespeare's lifespan

1564-1616

Key personifications in Sonnet XVIII

Death brags, sun is 'eye of heaven'

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