'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' An Interpretation of Sonnet Nr. 18 by William Shakespeare

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 3, University of Graz (Anglistik), course: Einführung in die Literaturwissenschaft I, language: English, abstract: There might be several reasons for the sonnet's popularity, but it certainly is a very special atmosphere which is created by William Shakespeare, comparing his strong and infinite love with the beauty of a summer's day (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?). This term paper should be an interpretation of Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 18. First, some aspects of the historical background of Shakespeare should enable a better understanding of the author and the time in which the Sonnet was written. Further, the poem will be analysed according to its content (narrative features and setting). On the level of enunciation this paper will give an outline what the typical Shakespearian Sonnet's structures are (form, meter and rhyme scheme) and how Sonnet 18 is based on them. Then the poem will be analysed according to its phonological, morphological/syntactical and semantic figures.

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