Sonnet 18

1. Give the meaning of the following words:
a) The eye of heaven: ______________________________
b) Fair: _________________________________________
2. What can cause his gold completion to dim?
3. What does the poet mean from the line Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade?
4. What does the poet think of his beloved’s beauty? Do you think it is right to emphasise external beauty?
5. Which phrase says that the season will pass quickly?
6. Give the meaning of the following phrases:
a) every fair from fair sometimes declines
b) thy eternal summer shall not fade
c) Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st
d) Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade
7. What does the poet mean by the last two lines? Explain in your own words.
8. How does the beauty of the persona’s beloved compare to a summer’s day?
9. Which lines describes the seething heat of summer?
10. In line 11, what does the persona mean by Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade?
11. In your own words, describe the persona’s feeling for his beloved.
a) In this poem, the persona goes on to describe aspects in which his beloved is ‘more lovely and more temperate’ than a summer’s day. Give two of the aspects he mentions in the poem.
b) Explain what the poet means by the word ‘temperate’ in these lines.
c) How would you feel if you receive such a poem from your girlfriend or boyfriend? Explain
12. Do you think the poet’s love was immortalized through this poem? Explain.
13. What is the subject matter in the poem?
14. Why do you think the persona says that his beloved is more beautiful than the summer day?
15. Would you compare your beloved to ‘a summer day?’ Give a reason for your answer.
16. What has the poet compared his beloved to?
17. The word his in line 6 refers to?
18. Which word in the poem tell us that beauty will last forever?
19. In your own words, explain the last two line of the sonnet.
20. What does the persona compare the beloved to when he says she is “ more lovely-and more temperate?
21. Explain why the persona says his beloved – “thou art more lovely and more temperate’?
22. Which line in the poem tells us that the beauty of the poet’s beloved will never be lost?
23. According to the poet, what will enable his beloved to live forever?
24. Write down the line which says that the sun is too hot at times?
25. What does the poet mean by the line…”fair from fair sometimes declines’?
26. What does the poet think will happen to his beloved’s beauty?
27. In your own words,
i) explain how important beauty is to you

ii) what would you value most in a person?
28. In line 2, what does the poet mean by the word “temperate’?
29. Why does the poet say that “ summer’s lease hath all too short a date’?
30. Which line in this poem suggests that the poet’s loved one’s beauty will remain always?
31. In your own words, what do you think the poet means by the last line?
32. Why does the pesona compare his love to a summer’s day?
33. Explain the line; summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
34. What does the phrase nature’s changing course refer to?
35. What is the poem about?
36. Name two weakness of summer?
37. What does the eye of heaven refer to?
38. What does the line every fair from fair sometimes decline imply?
39. What does the word this in the last line refer to?
40. In your opinion, is the persona being practical in preserving the beauty of his beloved?
41. Who is compared to a summer’s day?
42. How can the gold complexion be dimm’d?
43. What does the line And summer’s lease hath all too short a date imply?
44. Which elements of nature are mentioned in first stanza of the poem?
45. How can beauty of the persona’s beloved be immortalized?
46. Do you think the persona has succeeded in immortalizing his beloved’s beauty? Give a reason for your answer.