I see Sonnet 18 as a companion poem to 17 where the poet is addressing not a mistress, but his three-year-old daughter while she is ill. That makes me a heretic, I know, but read on for my explanation. Both sonnets flow naturally from one to the other when read this way. I will explain 18 first so you get the general idea. Sonnet 18 talks about the "darling buds of May', perhaps one of the most enigmatic phrases in the cycle of sonnets. Does he mean that Spring is upon him? Perhaps not. The word May is on line 3, the number of the Trinity which means the line is important and hides a clue to what is really going on. May is the 24th word in the poem and "Sommer's" (to use the original spelling from the 1609 quarto) follows on line 4 and is the 26th word in the poem. The numbers may not mean much to outsiders, but to one poet, they were significant. His youngest daughter was registered as being born on May 26th, which is where "Sommer's" is located. In those days it was common for parents to wait a couple of days before getting children baptized to see if they would live. Therefore, it is possible his daughter was born May 24th and not the 26th when it was registered. Given this information we can infer that the line where May is located is also about how old she is when this poem was likely composed: three. Back to the phrase "darling buds of May". If you imagine the poet holding his daughter against his chest and reciting Sonnets 17 and 18 as he walks to comfort her, suddenly the words in them make sense. The "darling buds of May" are her tiny fingers and toes which are "shaken" by rough winds which is a metaphor for her illness. He tells her in lines 7 and 8 that "every faire from faire sometimes declines / By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd" which is his way of letting her know that people get ill by either chance or not taking care of themselves. By not "trimming nature's course" - a sailing metaphor for cleaning up house or otherwise taking care of oneself - people invite disease and other misfortune. Now we return to why Sonnet 17 and 18 need to be read together. Sonnet 17 is the poet telling his daughter that if he was to write of her beauty and her qualities, nobody would believe him. The first line is: "Who will believe my verse in time to come" and he follows that with "If I could write the beauty of your eyes, / And in fresh numbers [new poems] number all your graces, / The age to come would say this Poet lies" (lines 5 to 7) which is the thrust of the poem. (The clue we are to figure out her age is in the word "age" here in line 7 .) What loving father would not want to write of his daughter in this way? Then in Sonnet 18 he proceeds to tell her that a Summer's day is not as "lovely and temperate" as she is and that she need not worry about her temporary illness because her "eternal Summer shall not fade" so long as this poem is printed and read. If you imagine at the end that the comma which ends the last line as originally printed in the 1609 quarto is like an ellipsis - modern punctuation uses three periods - then add what is implied in line 14, you will get the full impact of both poems. I suggests what follows that comma could be: "I love you". Read these poems to yourself with the idea this is a father comforting his infant daughter who is ill, then add that phrase at the end of 18 and you may tear up as I do just thinking about it. Just my two bits.
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I see Sonnet 18 as a companion poem to 17 where the poet is addressing not a mistress, but his three-year-old daughter while she is ill. That makes me a heretic, I know, but read on for my explanation.
Both sonnets flow naturally from one to the other when read this way. I will explain 18 first so you get the general idea.
Sonnet 18 talks about the "darling buds of May', perhaps one of the most enigmatic phrases in the cycle of sonnets. Does he mean that Spring is upon him?
Perhaps not.
The word May is on line 3, the number of the Trinity which means the line is important and hides a clue to what is really going on. May is the 24th word in the poem and "Sommer's" (to use the original spelling from the 1609 quarto) follows on line 4 and is the 26th word in the poem. The numbers may not mean much to outsiders, but to one poet, they were significant. His youngest daughter was registered as being born on May 26th, which is where "Sommer's" is located. In those days it was common for parents to wait a couple of days before getting children baptized to see if they would live. Therefore, it is possible his daughter was born May 24th and not the 26th when it was registered. Given this information we can infer that the line where May is located is also about how old she is when this poem was likely composed: three.
Back to the phrase "darling buds of May". If you imagine the poet holding his daughter against his chest and reciting Sonnets 17 and 18 as he walks to comfort her, suddenly the words in them make sense. The "darling buds of May" are her tiny fingers and toes which are "shaken" by rough winds which is a metaphor for her illness.
He tells her in lines 7 and 8 that "every faire from faire sometimes declines / By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd" which is his way of letting her know that people get ill by either chance or not taking care of themselves. By not "trimming nature's course" - a sailing metaphor for cleaning up house or otherwise taking care of oneself - people invite disease and other misfortune.
Now we return to why Sonnet 17 and 18 need to be read together.
Sonnet 17 is the poet telling his daughter that if he was to write of her beauty and her qualities, nobody would believe him. The first line is: "Who will believe my verse in time to come" and he follows that with "If I could write the beauty of your eyes, / And in fresh numbers [new poems] number all your graces, / The age to come would say this Poet lies" (lines 5 to 7) which is the thrust of the poem. (The clue we are to figure out her age is in the word "age" here in line 7 .) What loving father would not want to write of his daughter in this way?
Then in Sonnet 18 he proceeds to tell her that a Summer's day is not as "lovely and temperate" as she is and that she need not worry about her temporary illness because her "eternal Summer shall not fade" so long as this poem is printed and read.
If you imagine at the end that the comma which ends the last line as originally printed in the 1609 quarto is like an ellipsis - modern punctuation uses three periods - then add what is implied in line 14, you will get the full impact of both poems. I suggests what follows that comma could be: "I love you".
Read these poems to yourself with the idea this is a father comforting his infant daughter who is ill, then add that phrase at the end of 18 and you may tear up as I do just thinking about it.
Just my two bits.
Love the content and the presentation. Keep them coming
This was incredibly helpful. Well done!!
Most of this was useful, thanks.
Love it Dr Will! I thought I knew a lot about sonnets but I just learnt tonnes! ❤🎉
We're so glad to hear @jennifersmith5431 !
Summer's lease hath all too short a date
Dr Will = William Shakespeare? 🤔
👀
This is very nonsense sonnet because this sonnet never followe the real life materialast sonnet. And idealistic also.