The sonnet - shall I compare thee to a summer's day - is addressed to Shakespeare's patron friend on the 'fair youth'. In the preceding sonnet the

Write a critical appreciation of Shakespeare's sonnet 18.

* The sonnet - shall I compare thee to a summer's day - is addressed to Shakespeare's patron friend on the 'fair youth'. In the  preceding sonnet the poet has said that it is not possible to perpetuate his exquisite physical beauty unless there is procreation through marriage. But in this sonnet the poet affirms that he will perpetuate his friend's beauty in his verse. Thus the sonnet 18 is much a celebration of his friend's beauty in his verse. Thus the sonnet 18 is much a celebration of his friend's beauty as of the art of poetry.

* The opening line of the sonnet - shall I compare. thee to a summer's day? - is the topical question which emphasizes that it is not just enough to compare his friend's youthful beauty he has celebrated in his poetry to a summer's day. The beauty of a summer? day it marred by the unpredictability of the weather Sometimes the sun is too hot. He describes the sun as the "eye of heaven." He also personifies the sun by using the pronoun he to refer to the sun. when the sky is overcast, the glory of the sun is not visible. So the poet says," And often his golden complexion dimmed." Moreover, sometimes rough wind rise and spoil spring bossom" darling buds of may".

*The poet reflects that everything and everyone that is beautiful becomes less beautiful or ceases to be beautiful with time. He suggests that there comes a time when the deterioration of beauty sets in That is why he says,"And every fair from fair sometime declines." The first "fair" in the quoted line may refer to fair women and the second "fair" may be taken to mean fairness or beauty in general.

*After reflecting on the transience of beauty, the poet affirms that the summer of his friend beauty is eternal because he has recorded it in his verse. Through a powerful image, the claims that his friend's youthful beauty preserved in his verse is no longer subject to time. "Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade." His poetry will be read from generation to generation and so death can not boast that his friend is walking under his shadow. His friend's beauty is eternal because the lines of his poetry are eternal. In the concluding couplet the reader is impressed by the poets optimism_ that his poetry will be there " As long as men can breathe or eyes can see" So his friend's beauty will always come alive in his poetry.