Questions and answers of Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day broad / long / descriptive important questions and answers for Class - 12th ( WBCHSE and other board )

Q.How is summer presented in the sonnet?

Ans:-In Sonnet 18 Shakespeare wants to compare the beauty of his friend to a summer’s day. So he describes the beauty and charm of summer and says that he can not compare the beauty of his friend to a summer’s day because in summer, sweet buds are shaken be rough winds. The brightness of summer has no consistency. Sometimes the sun shines brightly but often its gold complexion is dimmed by the passing clouds. Next, summer is short-lived. Thus its beauty fades away quickly. On the other hand the beauty of the poet’s friend will be made eternal by the eternal lines of the poet.

Q.Give the substance of the poem “Sonnet 18 Shall I Compare Thee to a summer’s Day”.
Ans:-In his sonnet Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer's Day William Shakespeare praises the beauty of his dear friend Earl of Southampton . The poet believes that the beauty of his friend will never fade. The Swede buds of may can be blown down by the rough winds. The summer does not stay long. The sun shines either too hot or sometime becomes over clouded, so all the natural objects are subject to change and decay. But time and death will not fade the beauty of his friend. This sonnet will immortalise the beauty of his friend. His friend and his beauty will remain immortal to the readers of the sonnet. The friend of the poet gets lives and will live forever in this way.

Q.“But thy eternal summer shall not fade.”- Whose eternal summer is referred to here? What is meant by eternal summer? Why will eternal summer not fade?

Ans:-The eternal summer of the poet’s friend is referred to in the above quoted line.In the above quoted line eternal summer means unfading beauty.The eternal summer in the above quoted line refers to the glowing beauty of the poet’s male friend. The poet wants to compare the beauty of his friend to a summer’s day. But after considering the shortcomings of a summer’s day he decides not to compare the beauty of his friend to a summer’s day. The poet says that he will make the beauty of his friend eternal through his immortal verses. In his words- 

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and gives life to thee”.

Q.What does the poet compare this young person to? Identify at least three qualities that make the person superior to the simile.
Ans:-“Shall I Compare Thee to a summer’s day?” by William Shakespeare is a famous sonnet where he compares the beauty of a young man, his friend to the day of the summer. But he is not sure about the appropriateness to this comparison because of at least three reasons. Firstly the day of the summer is lovely but the beauty of the youth is more enjoyable. He is more temperate, more gentle, more restrained than the day of the summer. Rough winds shake the sweet buds of the flower. Secondly summer stays very short period. The beauty of the youth will live for long. Thirdly the bright sunlight of the summer which would be dimmed is compared. But the beauty of his friend is compared as eternal summer which shall not fade. Death and Time cannot destroy the beauty of the youth. He immortalises his friend through the eternal lines of his poetry.