Zosa, Jessa

Bico, Jollybe G.

Comparing the works of William Shakespeare “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s Day”
and Elizabeth Browning “How do I love thee?”

Thesis Statement: True natural love and the eternity of true love is express in different
ways.

Problems:

1. What kind of message do they want to send to the readers?

2. How their personal life did affects the poems they write?
3. How does love plays in their poem?

Sonnet 18 or Shall I Compare thee to a summer’s Day is the best known and well-
loved of all 154 sonnets. It is also one of the most straightforward in language and intent.
The stability of love and its power to immortalize the subject of the poet's verse is the
theme. The poet starts the praise of his dear friend without ostentation, but he slowly
builds the image of his friend into that of a perfect being. His friend is first compared to
summer in the octave, but, at the start of the third quatrain (9), he is summer, and thus,
he has metamorphosed into the standard by which true beauty can and should be judged.
The poet's only answer to such profound joy and beauty is to ensure that his friend be
forever in human memory, saved from the oblivion that accompanies death. He achieves
this through his verse, believing that, as history writes itself, his friend will become one
with time. The final couplet reaffirms the poet's hope that as long as there is breath in
mankind, his poetry too will live on, and ensure the immortality of his muse.

How Do I Love Thee? Is sonnet number 43 taken from The Sonnets From the Portuguese,
a book first published in 1850. Elizabeth Barrett Browning chose this title to give the
impression that she had translated the work from the Portuguese and would therefore
avoid any controversy. It was dedicated to her husband, poet Robert Browning. This
sonnet helped kick-start many more on the theme of modern (Victorian) love, from a
woman's perspective. The emphasis is on the repetition and reinforcement of the
speaker's love for someone; there is no mention of a specific name or gender, giving the
sonnet a universal appeal. This poem comes from another era however, a time when
most women were expected to stay at home looking after all things domestic, not writing
poems about love.

Both Shakespeare and Elizabeth Browning have poems with a depth of love towards the audience for
which they intended their poems. Shakespeare’s poem, also known as the Shakespearean Sonnet 18,
holds meaning for lovers of the 21st century just as much as they did from the date of 1564-1616 when
Shakespeare was alive. Both are sonnets and written to or for a person admired. Feelings of love and
deep emotion are expressed. Both are Romanticized. That is they are written to be romantic and are
inspired by love and romance. Shakespeare and Elizabeth Browning’s poem has tone, images and
symbolism. Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day,” adresses heartfelt feelings of love
like E. Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways,” and is Romanticized.

References

https://letterpile.com/poetry/Analysis-of-Poem-How-Do-I-Love-Thee-by-Elizabeth-
Barrett-Browning

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18detail.html