The Role of Imagery in 'Sonnet 18' by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare uses metaphors, similie's, natural phenomena in relation to time or love as well as imagery in his Sonnet 18. This sonnet shares the centrel theme of the vicious powers of time. However, it varies in the means used to portray the speaker's anxiety surrounding time as a fracture, using both the ideas of love and time in relation to natural phenoma. 

The Use of Imagery in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

In Sonnet 18, one of William Shakespeare's most famous sonnets, the use of imagery plays a crucial role in conveying the theme of eternal beauty and immortalizing the beloved. Shakespeare employs vivid and evocative imagery to capture the essence of the speaker's admiration and to create a lasting impression on the reader.

The sonnet opens with the renowned line, 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' Here, the imagery of a summer's day sets the initial tone of beauty and vibrancy. Summer is associated with warmth, brightness, and the peak of natural beauty. By comparing the beloved to a summer's day, Shakespeare establishes a standard of beauty and sets the stage for the subsequent imagery.

As the sonnet progresses, Shakespeare contrasts the transient nature of the summer season with the enduring beauty of the beloved. He emphasizes this contrast through imagery, describing the summer's day as 'rough winds' that can 'shake the darling buds of May' and stating that 'summer's lease hath all too short a date.' These images of impermanence and instability highlight the limitations of seasonal beauty.

In contrast, Shakespeare employs imagery to depict the everlasting nature of the beloved's beauty. He writes, 'But thy eternal summer shall not fade.' The use of the word 'eternal' conveys a sense of timelessness and immortality, suggesting that the beauty of the beloved will persist beyond the fleeting seasons.

The Use of Metaphors and Natural Phenomena

In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare uses natural phenomena to symbolise the speaker's love for the beloved and their beauty. The poem begins with what could be seen as a rhetorical question, 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' Throughout the rest of the poem, the speaker goes on to answer this question. The idea that the speakers beloved holds a beauty that overpowers the beauty of a summers day is evident through the use of comparisons between the beloved and natural phenomena. 

The speaker starts the praise of the beloved with modesty and slowly starts to build a picture of the beloved's beauty. In line 2 of the poem the speaker claims that the beloved is 'more lovely and more temperate', the use of these words shows the speaker is already claiming that a summer's day does not do the beloved justice. In the next 3 lines, the speaker seems to be re-characterising the preconceived ideas of summer to raise the image of the beloved's beauty. The use of 'Rough winds do shake the darling buds of may summer's lease hath all to short a date too hot the eye of heaven shines' are contrasting of the image normally held when we think of a summers day.

The use of 'And often gold complexion dimm every fair from fair sometimes declines' could suggest the speaker is coming to the realisation that the metaphorical comparisions will not be adequate to praise his beloveds worth as everything in a summers days beauty will eventually fade, i.e. the sun will dim and night will come. Line 9 seems to be taking a different approach of the comparisions, the speaker seems to now make the beloved a summers day and state that the beloveds 'eternal summer shall not fade' suggesting that the beloved beauty will not be subject to change.

The final couplet seem to suggest that the speaker has come to the realisation that only one thing will ensure the beloveds beauty and worth will be everlasting, the lines that the speaker writes. In lines 13 and 14 the speaker claims that the poem will give the beloved eternal worth and beauty 'so long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long this lives, and gives life to thee' suggesting that the words from the speaker will immortalise the beloved and every generation to come will know the beloveds beauty and worth.

Conclusion

Overall, the use of imagery in Sonnet 18 enhances the poet's ability to convey the timeless nature of beauty. Through evocative descriptions of a summer's day, the transient nature of seasons, and the everlasting quality of the beloved's beauty, Shakespeare captures the essence of admiration and immortalizes the subject through the power of poetry.