What is certain is that the speaker compares the subject to a beautiful summer’s day, acknowledging that even the most perfect day will fade. Some people believe that Shakespeare wrote this sonnet for a man, but no one is sure. It deals with the themes of beauty and love but also of the timelessness of art. Sonnet 18 is one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. This couplet, the last two lines of the poem, reveals the entire point of the sonnet: The speaker does not need to exaggerate the beauty of his mistress to love her deeply. It’s almost an insulting poem until you get to the final two lines:Īnd yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare Her breath is not as lovely as perfume and may even have an unpleasant odor. Not every Shakespearean sonnet lets the form control the meaning in this way, but many do.įor example, in Sonnet 13, the first 12 lines are making ordinary and even unfavorable comparisons about the beauty of the speaker’s mistress. Then in the final couplet, the true meaning of the poem is revealed. The three quatrains that make up the first 12 lines explore a common theme. In many cases, the Shakespearean sonnet form also affects the content of a poem.
