This sonnet is generally believed to be dedicated to the Earl of Southampton. William Shakespeare’s friend is immortalized in this sonnet.

The sonnet compares the perfection of his friend with the imperfections of a summer day.

The poem is a typical Shakespearean sonnet. It consists of 14 verses: three quartets and a couplet that rhymes.

First quatrain

When Shakespeare speaks of a summer day, he is referring to it literally and figuratively. It is literally a long, warm day. In a figurative sense, it is a moment in a person’s life. His patron was in the summer of his life, more beautiful and warmer than a literal day. By saying that your employer is “more charming,” you are saying that he is kind and loving. By saying that he is “more temperate,” he means that his friend is kind and unchanging.

Shakespeare refers to the imperfections of a summer day. Talk about “strong winds” and “darling cocoons.” Obviously, we must look at the northern hemisphere summer. Usually it is a short season that can get unbearably hot. Clear images of summer are seen in words like “lease” and “date.” While the words remind us of a contract whereby one person allows another to use their property for a specified time, we can clearly see that the poet is comparing summer to having a contract and the period during which the property is rented is too much short. This gives us an idea of ​​how the poet feels: as in summer, the life of his patron was also too short.

Second quatrain

The poet now describes the sun, the “eye of heaven” with its “golden complexion”. It is dazzling and brilliant. It provides light and heat, but on a cloudy day, the sun dims and its light and heat cannot penetrate through the clouds. Your friend is not like that. Death will not affect the effect it had on the poet, as clouds affect the effect of the sun on a summer day.

In the poem, time is described as the arch enemy of beauty. Beauty degenerates over time, accidentally or as a result of the laws of nature. It fades with age. Everyone is born to die and cannot escape this gradual process. “Change the course of nature without clipping.”

There is a tone of contempt because by comparing summer to his patron, the poet makes summer seem of little value or importance.

Third Quatrain

Your friend’s claim to immortality can be seen and we realize that his value will never fade or die. The poet no longer despises the natural summer. He reveals his joy for the eternal summer of his employer. It reveals your absolute certainty that your friend will be remembered indefinitely. Its pattern will last as long as the summer comes to an end, and so it seems, the summer has less value. The “eternal summer” of your employer is a metaphor for the best period of your employer’s life, when you are at the peak of your achievements and have earned the highest status.

When Shakespeare speaks of “eternal lines”, we realize that no one can achieve true immortality. Death is personified as the ruler of the underworld where the ‘shadows’ or spirits of the dead wander aimlessly. Instead of passing into the darkness of death, your friend will continue to live in this poem. He will never be forgotten. Death will not be able to boast of another famous man who has entered his Kingdom.

The verse

The last two lines emphasize that the dignity of his patron has been immortalized in the lines of this poem. It will never be forgotten as time goes by. Shakespeare is confident in his superior capacity for creative power. Believe in your own work and in this poem. The poem gives your friend a new life every time you read it.