Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

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.”

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?"

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He woos Jewels not just by reciting “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” but also by bragging about his Black Lives Matter chants.

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Number 18 — which begins, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” — leads, in effect, to the conclusion, “You’re pretty, but you’re going to die, and this poem will live forever.”

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“We have big, beautiful brains. We invent things that fly. Fly. We write poetry. You probably hate poetry, but it’s hard to argue with ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

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Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

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