Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Cultural  

1. The first line of a sonnet by William Shakespeare. The poet notes that beautiful days and seasons do not last but declares that his love's “eternal summer shall not fade” because his poem makes his love immortal: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

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Example Sentences

Lord Cashman, a friend of O'Grady's, told BBC Radio Kent he would read Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, which begins "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2023

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

From Washington Post • Aug. 25, 2016

After the "boring procreation sonnets", things look up at Sonnet 18, with the wonderful "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

From The Guardian • Oct. 15, 2010

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

From The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times by Biese, Alfred

For example, the line quoted above, "From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate," has a distinctly different rhythm from such another iambic line as "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

From The Principles of Aesthetics by Parker, Dewitt H.