Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Article Review Example

Shakespeare’s Sonnets 18 and 130 Compared

The whole world loves Sonnet 18, or at least the whole world loves and often recites the first line, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” This is understandable; the sonnet runs along a beautifully classical and predictable course and loses no time in making it clear that the author’s love interest far surpasses that day in summer.

It’s interesting that it was much later in the sonnet work as a whole that Shakespeare turned the notion on its head, in Sonnet 130. Here, beginning with “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…”, the lady in question suffers badly in each comparison to nature. Only in the last couplet does she rise above. This is my favorite of the two, as it gives a twist and an edge to otherwise flowery, romantic praise.