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Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18
in to the idea that a summer’s day is unpredictable and subject to change. This again is not true for the youth. The youth is temperate and his perfection is untouchable. He is steadfast and reliable. He is immune from accidents or fluctuation. He is again, perfection.
At this point Shakespeare has finished explaining how summer is an inadequate comparison to the youth and begins to explain his promise to the youth. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade…” The eternal summer represents the eternity of the youth’s perfection. The eternal summer won’t ever fade and it will never lose its original beauty. This again affirms that the youth is not subject to time. He is immortal. He is God-like.
Shakespeare finally declares that the reason that the youth will always be immortal and in perfect state is death has no power over him. “Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade...” (11) Unlike Death’s eventual victory over every living thing, it will not have any affect on the youth. The reason for this being that the youth, in all his glory, will always and forever be captured in Shakespeare’s verse and because of these lines, the youth will remain immortal and will grow as time grows.
“So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this give life to thee.” (13-14) This final part of Shakespeare’s promise to the youth explains that as long as man inhabits the earth, the verse will always exist, and because of the existence of the verse, the youth will live on forever in the words. His image and beauty will always be captured in time and because it is captured, he will remain immortal. The verse gives the youth a means for immortality and eternal existence because it transcends the time barrier. He is a god.
Through the intensity of the emotion of love that Shakespeare is able to express in his writing it is proven that he viewed the youth as godlike. He idealizes the young man by the description of his beauty. His writing is motivated by the love that he feels for the youth. He explains the youth’s perfection by comparing and contrasting the youth to a summer’s day. He explains that a summer’s day is as inadequate a comparison, as the language he uses is in his attempt to express all he feels for the youth. Through the verse and his use of symbolism and personification of aspects of nature, and of the youth, Shakespeare is able to fully utilize this comparison by morphs the youth into the “endless summer,” an ideal without flaw or imperfection. He shows admiration and adoration for the youth by denying the man have any faults. Shakespeare explains that the youth, unlike summer, is immune to time and aging and [next page]