Analysis of a poem “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s Day”
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Analysis of a poem according to New Criticism Theory
Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s Day?
Thou art more lovely and more Temperate;
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer’s lease hath all too short to date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven Shines,
And often iss his gold complexion dimm’d;
And Every fair from fair sometime declines;
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal Summer Shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor Shall death brag thou wonder’st in his Shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
So long as men can breathe r eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
According to New Criticism,Focuses on the text itself,and literary devices or focus on formal elements
Like imagery,ambuiguitty, paradox,tension,and other elements present in a text.
Analysis of a New Criticism of a poem:
1: Imagery and symbolism:
The main words of the “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day”it is comarison between
Summer and his beloved so,summer symbolizes beauty,warmth and also shows difficulties in this season.
2: Metaphor and Smilie:
In poem metaphor is used”thou art more lovely and more temperate”indicates sun’s warmth and also his sunshine and smilie( e.g Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day) is compares with
Beloved’s beauty a summer’s day.
3: Irony and Paradox:
In poem Summer’s beauty is constant this irony emphasis the beloved’s enduring beauty.
4: Tone and Ambuiguity:
In poem tone is Romantic Shall I comparre thee Suggests uncertanity, while the final couplet is all about the timeless beauty of his beloved is un certaanity.
5: Structure And Form:
Structure of this a Sonnet (14 lines) poem consists of a three quartrians and a couplet.
Rhyme Scheme is ab-cdcd-efef-gg and meter is iambic pentameter( five of these groups stressed and unstresedin one line).
Theme of is all about love and beauty.
This is analysis of a poem according to New critics because they read the poem as a text itself, and they also see
In poem organic unity. These all things are seen by new critics in a text.
By analysis of a poem New criticism reveals the poem’s exploration of beauty and love.