SONNET 18 PARAPHRASE

Shall I compare thee to a Shall I compare you to a

summer's day? summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and You are more lovely and
more temperate: more constant:
Rough winds do shake the Rough winds shake the
darling buds of May, beloved buds of May
And summer's lease hath all And summer is far too short:
too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of At times the sun is too hot,
heaven shines,
And often is his gold Or often goes behind the
complexion dimm'd; clouds;
And every fair from fair And everything beautiful
sometime declines, sometime will lose its
beauty,
By chance or nature's By misfortune or by nature's
changing course untrimm'd; planned out course.
But thy eternal summer shall But your youth shall not
not fade fade,
Nor lose possession of that Nor will you lose the beauty
fair thou owest; that you possess;
Nor shall Death brag thou Nor will death claim you for
wander'st in his shade, his own,
When in eternal lines to time Because in my eternal verse
thou growest: you will live forever.
So long as men can breathe So long as there are people
or eyes can see, on this earth,
So long lives this and this So long will this poem live
gives life to thee. on, making you immortal.
ANALYSIS
temperate (1): i.e., evenly-tempered; not overcome by
passion.
the eye of heaven (5): i.e., the sun.
every fair from fair sometime declines (7): i.e., the beauty
(fair) of everything beautiful (fair) will fade (declines).
Compare to Sonnet 116: "rosy lips and cheeks/Within his
bending sickle's compass come."
nature's changing course (8): i.e., the natural changes age
brings.
that fair thou ow'st (10): i.e., that beauty you possess.
in eternal lines...growest (12): The poet is using a grafting
metaphor in this line. Grafting is a technique used to join
parts from two plants with cords so that they grow as one.
Thus the beloved becomes immortal, grafted to time with
the poet's cords (his "eternal lines"). For commentary on
whether this sonnet is really "one long exercise in self-

glorification", please see below.

Sonnet 18 is the best known and most 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 poetry and the subject of that poetry 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.
Interestingly, not everyone is willing to accept the role of
Sonnet 18 as the ultimate English love poem. As James
Boyd-White puts it:
What kind of love does 'this' in fact give to 'thee'? We know
nothing of the beloveds form or height or hair or eyes or
bearing, nothing of her character or mind, nothing of her at
all, really. This 'love poem' is actually written not in praise
of the beloved, as it seems, but in praise of itself. Death
shall not brag, says the poet; the poet shall brag. This
famous sonnet is on this view one long exercise in selfglorification, not a love poem at all; surely not suitable for
earnest recitation at a wedding or anniversary party, or in a
Valentine. (142)
Note that James Boyd-White refers to the beloved as "her",
but it is almost universally accepted by scholars that the
poet's love interest is a young man in sonnets 1-126.
Sarung Banggi (It was one night)
Sa Higdaan (while in my bed)
Nakadangog ako(that I heard)
Nin huni nin sarong gamgam (the lonely chirping of a bird)
Sa luba ko katurugan,(I thought I was dreaming)
Bako kundi (But, no)
Simong boses, Iyo palan (twas your voice, most certain)
Dagos ako bangon (at once, I arose)
Si sakuyang mata iminuklat (my sleepy eyes, I opened)
Kadtung kadikluman (through the darkness)
Ako ay nangalagkalag (I looked around)
Kasu ihiling ko si sakuyang mata sa itaas(And when I raised
my searching eyes)

Simong lawog nahiling ko, maliwanag (your face I saw,

glowing)
Kadtung kadikluman, Kan mahiling taka (When in the dark, I
saw you)
Namundo kong puso, tulos naugma (my lonely heart found
happiness, swiftly)
Minsan di nahaloy, idtong napagmasdan (that sight, ever so
briefly though,)
Sagkod Nuarin pa man, (Until eternity,)
Dai ko malilingawan (I wont forget, ever)
Magpoon na ika sakuyang namutan (Since, to you in love I
fell)
Ako nakamate nin kaginhawahan (I felt sweet relief soothing)
Pati an puso kong tagub kapungawan (my empty heart, in
loneliness fill)
Ngunyan burabod na nin tunay na kaogmahan (now a spring
of true happiness, overflowing)
One evening as I lay in bed
I heard the sad song of a bird
At first I thought it was a dream
But soon I recognized your voice
I opened my eyes and arose
And strained in the darkness to see
I looked about and up
Then saw your radiant face.

Isang gabing maliwanag

Ako'y naghihintay sa aking magandang dilag;
Namamanglaw ang puso ko
At ang diwa ko'y lagi nang nangangarap.
Malasin mo giliw
ang saksi ng aking pagmamahal
bit'wing nagniningning, kislap ng tala't
liwanag ng buwan
Ang siyang nagsasabi na ang pag-ibig
ko'y sadyang tunay
Araw, gabi ang panaginip ko'y ikaw.
Magbuhat ng ikaw ay aking ibigin,
Ako ay natutong gumawa ng awit;
Pati ng puso kong dati'y matahimik,
Ngayo'y dumadalas ang tibok ng aking dibdib.
Bayang magiliw,
Perlas ng Silanganan
Alab ng puso
Sa dibdib moy buhay.

Lupang hinirang,
Duyan ka ng magiting
Sa manlulupig
Di ka pasisiil.
Sa dagat at bundok,
Sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw
May dilag ang tula at awit
Sa paglayang minamahal.
Ang kislap ng watawat moy
Tagumpay na nagniningning
Ang bituin at araw niya
Kailan pa may di magdidilim.
Lupa ng araw ng luwalhatit pagsinta
Buhay ay langit sa piling mo
Aking ligaya na pag may mang-aapi
Ang mamatay ng dahil sa yo.
Sarong bangui
Sa higdaan
Nacadangog aco
Hinuni nin sarong gamgam.
Sa luba co
Katurugan
Baco cundi,
simong tingog iyo palan.
Dagos aco bangon si sacuyang mata iminuklat
Sa kadikloman nin bangui aco nangagcalag
Si acong paghiling biglang tinuhog paitaas
Simong laog na magayon maliwanag
Tagalog Version
Isang gabing maliwanag
Ako'y naghihintay sa aking magandang dilag;
Namamanglaw ang puso ko
At ang diwa ko'y lagi nang nangangarap.
Malasin mo giliw
ang saksi ng aking pagmamahal
bit'wing nagniningning, kislap ng tala't
liwanag ng buwan
Ang siyang nagsasabi na ang pag-ibig
ko'y sadyang tunay
Araw, gabi ang panaginip ko'y ikaw.
Magbuhat ng ikaw ay aking ibigin,
Ako ay natutong gumawa ng awit;
Pati ng puso kong dati'y matahimik,
Ngayo'y dumadalas ang tibok ng aking dibdib.