英国文学选读课后复习资料

英国文学选读

Of Studies P18

1.We are now living in the age of “information explosion”. What lessons can we learn from Bacon’s< of studies> in our access to information?

Our planet is developing forward. The fast-moving development of science and technology makes it more convenient for students to get sufficient and effective information by countless ways. That is the external condition for our study, which we can appropriately make full use of. But what we have to keep in mind is that the eternal master of study is no one but ourselves in the process of studying.

2.In what sense does reading make a full man?

Reading makes a full man. Histories make men wise, poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Reading histories makes people learn lessons from the ancient time, avoid making the same mistakes and predict the development of things. People who read histories will be wiser than these who just act according to their own preferences without learning from histories. Reading poem s makes people learn the beauty of language, the beautiful classical style of art and live a poetic life. People who read poems will be wittier than these who haven’t feel the beautiful mood and pure life. Reading mathematics makes people focus on the accurate calculation, develop a scientific attitude, and form a pragmatic spirit. People who read mathematics will be more subtle to consider things from all aspects and do things from the drop carefully than these who don’t read. Reading natural philosophy makes people pursue truth, explore the unknown mystery, and practice actively. People who read natural philosophy will be deeper than these who don’t learn the theory of reflecting the truth. Readingmoral makes peopl e learn the way of harmony living, form the principle of ethical behaviors and develop correct outlooks on values. People who read moral will be graver than these who behave without correct principles and can’t deal with different relationships.Reading log ic makes people master the rules of thinking, dealing with different things and exploring objective reality. People who read logic will be more contend to have clear ideas, mater the principles of objective truth than these who don’t act according to rules.

Different kinds of reading materials play different roles in making a full man. People should get into different reading fields and train themselves to become a comprehensive talent. Reading will do good to one’s physical health according to some reading materials of physical training. What’s more important, reading promotes the development of logic thinking and morality. People can be called a full man on condition that they have fine quality, delicate self-cultivation and strict morality. Try to read extensively and become a full man .

Poems:

Hamlet P8

1.Why is sleep so frightening, according to Hamlet, since it can “end” the heartache and the thousand natural shocks”?Nobody can predict what he will dream of after he falls asleep. Death means the end of life, you may go to or unknown world and you can’t comeback,. If he dies, Hamlet 's can't realize his will. Though “sleep” can end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks, it is a state of mind.

Hamlet didn’t know at all. He is frightened by the possible suffering in the long “dream”. He can’t predict what will happen in the sleep, may be good may be evil.

2.Why would people rather bear all the sufferings of the world instead of choosing death to get rid of them, according to Hamlet?Death is so mysterious that nobody knows what death will bring to us. Maybe bitter sufferings, great pains, heartbreaking stories…Because people hold the same idea "to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death-the undiscover’d count ry, form whose bourn no traveler returns-puzzle the will, and make us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?”People also are frightened by the myths in another world after death.

3.What, after all, makes people lose their determination to take action? Please explain in relation to the so-called hesitation of Hamlet.

Conscience and over-considerations. He wants to revenge, but doesn’t know how. He wants to kill his uncle, but finds it too risky. He lives in despair and wants to commit suicide. However, he knows if he dies, nobody will comfort his father’s ghost. He is in face of great dilemma. They don’t know the result after their taking the action. Such as Hamlet, he doesn’t know what would happen if he kills his uncle or kil ls himself . So Hamlet was hesitated.

Sonnet 18 P13

1.How does the poet answer the question he puts forth in the first line? (Page 14)

The poet opens with a question that is addressed to the beloved, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" This quest ion is comparing “thee” to the summer time of the year. It is during this time when the flowers are blooming, trees are full of leaves, the weather is warm, and it is generally considered as an enjoyable time during the year. The following eleven lines in the poem are also dedicated to similar comparisons between the beloved and summer days. In lines 2 and 3, the speaker explains what mainly separates the young woman from the summer's day: she is "more lovely and more temperate." (Line 2) Summer days are sometimes shaken by "rough winds" (line3) which happens and is not always as welcoming as the woman. However in line 4, the poet gives the feeling again that the summer months are often too short by saying, "And summer lease hath too short a date." In the summer days, the sun, "the eye of heaven" (line 5), often shines "too hot," or too dim, "his gold complexion dimmed" (line 6) as "every fair from fair sometime declines." (Line 7) The final portion of the sonnet tells how the beloved differs from the summer in various aspects. Her beauty will be one that lasts forever, "Thy eternal summer shall not fade." (Line 9), and never end or die.

At last two lines , the poet explains how the beloved's beauty will accomplish this everlasting life unlike summer days. And it is because her beauty is kept alive in this poem, which will last forever. It will live "as long as men can breathe or eyes can see." (Line 13) the poem is outwardly a simple statement of praise about the beauty of the beloved woman and perhaps summer to the speaker is sometimes too unpleasant with the extremes of windiness and heat that go along with it. However, the beloved in the poem is always mild and temperate by her nature and nothing at all like the summer.

At last , the poet starts to praise that the beloved is so great and awing that she is to live forever in this sonnet. The beloved is so great that the speaker will even go as far as to say that, "So long as men breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee.”(line 13 、14 ) that the beloved is deserving to live on forever.

2. What makes the poet think that “thou” can be more beautiful than summer and immortal?

At the very beginning, the poet puts forth a question: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Then he gives an answer: “Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” On the one hand, “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a date;” on the other hand, “Sometime too hot the heaven shines, and often is his gold complex ion dimmed.” So from the above two aspects the poet thinks that “thou” can be more beautiful than summer. In addition, “And every fair from fair sometime declines, by chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.” Compared with immortal, “But thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, when in eternal lines to times thou grow’st.” Therefore, the poet draws a conclusion: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” In this poem, the poet makes “thou” more beautiful than summer and immortal because of his beautiful lines. So in this case, “thou” in the poem can be regarded as female because love can beauty eternal. Or “thou” can be referred to male, for friendship can make beauty everlasting. Even “thou” can be abstract “love” or “beauty” which will become eternal in the wonderful poem.

The Tiger P50

1. Why does the poet mention the Lamb? Do you think both the Lamb and the Tiger can illuminate each other?

The Tyger is corresponding to The Lamb. Both the poems show the poet’s exploration, understanding and plaint of the mysterious creation. In this poem, the author implies that the Tiger is created by God as well as the Lamb. So either the Tiger or the Lamb is essential to God.

I think both the Lamb and the Tiger can illuminate each other. Although the Lamb can represent the kind “innocent society”, it will be lack of enough motivation to make progress. While the Tiger will cause social misery, unrest or even disruption, but it can make people release their creativity. So the poet believes that the Tiger is the symbol of strength and courage. And he also praises its passion, desire and all the lofty beauty.

2.What is the symbolic meaning of the tiger? What idea does the poet want to express?

The symbol of the Tyger is one of the two central mysteries of the poem (the other being the Tyger’s creator). It is unclear what it exactly symbolizes, but scholars have hypothesized that the Tyger could be inspiration, the divine, artistic creation, history, the sublime (the big, mysterious, powerful and sometimes scary. Read more on this in the "Themes and Quotes" section), or vision itself. Really, the list is almost infinite. The point is, the Tyger is important, and Blake’s poem barely limits the possibilities

The tiger is the embodiment of God's power in creation: the animal is terrifying in its beauty, strength, complexity and vitality. The poem is divided into six parts. In the first

part, the author imagined that he met a terrible tiger on a dark night and was frightened by its awful eyesight. There are creations and creators. How great the creator is that he could create such an awful creation like tiger! In the second part, the author continues to ask, where comes the eyesight like fire, sea or sky? The following two parts, the author describes the creator as a smith. He creates the tiger. What behind the questions is the frightening and respect of the author to the creator. In the fifth part, the author changes his tone and asks when the stars throw down their spears, why they are not happy? The last part is as same as the first part, the creator is too mysterious to understand.

The tiger shows its outstanding energy. It’s the vitality which the author thinks highly of. The key sentence of the poem is "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" It challenges the one-track religious views of the 18’s century. The view only concluded that god create the lame, he is so kind a father. But it didn’t know god also create the tough tiger. He can also be very serious. The god is someone who can’t be truly understood by human beings.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud P57

1.What is the relation between the poet and nature as described in the poem? Theme of Man and the Natural World : Wordsworth is the granddaddy of all nature poets, and he’s in top form in "I wandered lonely as a Cloud." In her journal entry about the day in question, Wordsworth's sister Dorothy wrote about their surprise at finding so many daffodils in such a strange place, next to a lake and under some trees. "How’d those get there?" she wondered, even guessing that maybe the seeds floated across the lake. The event is one of the minor miracles that nature produces all the time, as anyone who has seen the documentary Planet Earth or the Disney movie Earth knows. Wordsworth’s nature is full of life and vitality. He appreciates its wildness and unpredictability, but he humanizes the landscape and fits it to his own mind.

Theme of Happiness

"I wandered lonely as a Cloud" is a poem that just makes you feel good about life. It says that even when you are by yourself and lonely and missing your friends, you can use your imagination to fine new friends in the world around you. As John Milton famously wrote, "The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven." The speaker of this poem makes a heaven out of a windy day and a bunch of daffodils. His happiness does not last forever –he’s not that unrealist ic – but the daffodils give him a little boost of joy whenever he needs it, like recharging his batteries.

Theme of Spirituality

The 19th century Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle coined the phrase "natural supernaturalism," which has been used by later critics to describe how the Romantic poets, and especially Wordsworth, viewed the natural world as a spiritual realm. The idea is that Heaven comes down to earth and is viewed as part of the world. This poem illustrates the principle of natural supernaturalism. The daffodils are like angels and twinkling stars, and the "bliss" of heaven occurs in speaker’s imagination. He uses Christian ideas and images to make an ode to nature without any reference to God.

Theme of Memory and the Past

"I wandered lonely as a Cloud" is almost like a simpler version of " Tintern Abbey ," one of Wordsworth’s other most famous works. In both poems, the memory of beautiful things serves as a comfort to the speaker even after the experience of viewing them has ended. He can always draw on his imagination to reproduce the joy of the event and to remember the spiritual wisdom that it provided. In the case of "I wandered lonely as a Cloud," we do not realize just how far in the future the speaker’s perspective is located until the fourth stanza, when he describes just how often the daffodils have comforted him.

2.Do you think nature can have healing effect on mind?

I think nature can have healing effect on mind, but the precondition is that the nature should be peaceful and earthly. Let’s imagine a scene. At the very beginning, we felt a little sad. Then, we place ourselves at a peaceful and clean lake. We sit on the comfortable and green grass. There are several wild flowers on the grass. Some little birds are walking near us with chirp. We can breathe the smell of the earth. When we are watching it glistening in the sunshine, there may be a smile on our face again. Nobody will be not touched in this condition unless there is something wrong with his mind. It is just like a picture. Or it is just like a clean bracing and ethereal melody. We can close our eyes to listen to it without any distracting thoughts. It always can comfort our hearts, and we will not feel that desperate. Every time I feel not happy I will listen to a piece of piano music. That makes me good, all my fidgeting will go away from me. Sometimes I will reflect where the problem is. Peaceful music is just like the nature. Both they can give me a kind of feeling like mother. Do not be scared at all. Sometimes I suppose if the criminal can live in the nature and experience it, they will not do that evil. In another hand, those artists maybe can not create the works. As the author said, a host of golden daffodils beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze. The memory made him excited and brought his lonely heart happiness. If a writer does not watch any beautiful scenery, I believe he or she can’t be a good writer. Peaceful nature is a place people can release themselves and remove the unhappiness. In this circumstance, the writer digs their inspiration.

Yes, I think so. Some people may think that our nature has been highly polluted by our human beings. And it won’t have any effects on us. The others may think the nature has bad influence on our bodies because of the contamination. But I think nature must have a lot of healing effect on mind. As the development of the society, people may meet more and more difficulties, and it may lead to more stress. For example, when a person has worked for a long time, it is hard for him to do more. He would like to spend sometime travelling to somewhere. The place is best to be beautiful, clean, comfortable, with clear sky and green grass. People can breathe the fresh air there. When he lies on the grass and watches the sky, he may forget all the stress on work. The only thing he can do is to enjoy the charming scenery and great nature.

Nature also can affect people when they are ill especially serious disease. The patient may feel their life meaningless. At that time, their families will take them to a remote place. They may also let the patient have a pet. During the feeding period, the patient may feel that a life is so difficult to bring up. He will heal the spirit to live. Different

people have di fferent ideas. I can’t say that nature doesn’t have mischief, but in my opinion, its good effects are more.

Novels:

The Canterbury Tales

1.How is the setting of the tales described? With such a setting, could you predict the general tone of the tales?

Early spring. General tone: happy, easy, lively, humorous.

2.Character of the Knight?

The knight displays many traits which make him seem almost too good to be true, and a true gentleman that rarely exists in reality. The knight holds four main admirable traits, making him the most liked traveler in "The Canterbury Tales," and also amplying the doubt of his realism. From the characters impressive introduction, it is clear that this man is the most valued and honorable traveler among the group. This perfect gentleman holds a love of ideals that are often not displayed by people. First and foremost, he believes in the ideals of chivalry, and always stays true to its principles. He also feels that one should be honest, truthful and faithful, which many people are not all of these ideals. The knight thinks one should only do what is right, and what will gain him honor and reputation. This character also believes in freedom and generosity towards all, and displays this ideal repeatedly throughout the novel. And lastly, the knight also strongly feels that any proper person should display courtesy and elegance at all times.

Another aspect of this character's life which makes him seem too prestigious to be truthful is his impressive military career. He fought in the holy war, The knight obviously held a very respectable reputation, and was treated with much honor and respect. He was a perfect gentleman, showing kindness and understanding to everyone he came in contact with. The knight was extremely well-mannered, always being on his best behavior. His appearance was the "finishing touch," adding honor and integrity to his courageous and gentle spirit. This main character was clothed still in his armor, wearing a tunic of harsh cloth and his coat of mail is rust-stained, clearly showing remaining signs of past battles.

The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe P33

1.What do you think of Crusoe’s way of marking time? Why is it important for him to keep track of time?

A good way. He doesn’t want to forget time. For a civilized man, time is precious.

2.From this excerpt, what do you find admirable in Robinson Crusoe?

Strong-minded, careful, capable, persevering, optimistic, ambitious, self-reliant, clever, practical, adventurous, patient, rational, sympathetic, hardworking, imaginative, energetic, courageous, amiable (kind-hearted).

Pride and Prejudice P65

1.Do you agree with the statement “it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”? What’s the relationship between money and marriage?

I do not agree with the statement. I think it is wrong to get married for money and position, but at the same time it is idiot to do not consider money and position. In this

novel, we can see the hero Darcy proposed marriage to Eliza but failed every time. Because Eliza has prejudice on Darcy and hated his pride actually. This kind of pride is a reaction from position’s differences. Unless the pride disappears, it will be possible that they could get married. Then El iza observed Darcy’s doing, especially found his changing on his pride. She removed her prejudice and got married with Darcy. From the distinct attitudes to Darcy, It’s not difficult to find Eliza maintained women should pursue their right of personality independence and fairness. And this attitude reflected Austen’s view of marriage as well. Therefore, she maintained that we can not get married for money and see marriage as a game. She stressed the significance of ideal marriage, and love is the cornerstone. Through this novel Jane Austen tried to tell people must take some action and reflect, then there will be hope. Because respection is not native, we can only get it from our action and reflection. Here, we can easily discover author thought women should have self respect and be independent. What women want is not just money, they also need the respect and right. Marriage is not a trade. It is impossible that I give you money, then you will marry me. There is a third thing——love. If two people love each other, they will not break up because of how much money he own.

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2.What do you think of Mrs. Bennet? How can you characterize her?

Mrs. Bennet’s mind was less difficult to understand. She was a woman of poor understanding, little information and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she imagined herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married, the solace of her life was visiting and news. Mrs Bennet is a woman who cares for nothing more than to have her daughters married off. A reference from the last chapter book which supports this statement is "Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters." I also see that Mrs Bennet is extremely fickle and changes her mind quickly. Mrs Bennet is a woman who thrives on gossip. It is almost all she cares about.

3.What makes Elizabeth feel so grateful to Darcy? How does Darcy respond to her.( P71)

Elizabeth ’s sister Lydia has always been frivolous and she r uns away with Wayne , who is poor and hypocritical. This behavior is not recognized at that time which destroys the Bennet’s reputation. The whole family feels ashamed, especially Elizabeth. Although Lydia has the plan to marry Wayne, Wayne, as a playboy, considers everything as a game. Elizabeth is so worried with her poor sister, so she decides to leave her hometown to find her sister. Fortunately, Darcy gives a helping hand. He finds them and tries his best to convince Lydia to come back. Faced with Wa yne’s greedy, he doesn’t flinch. He pays the debts for Wayne and gives Lydia a large amount of money. In order to help them, he also buys an official post for Wayne. Besides these, Darcy is also very gentle, he doesn’t expose Wayne so as to protect the whole family’s reputation. He does everything for Elizabeth, he doesn’t want her to be harmed. Darcy is proud at the beginning, which makes Elizabeth hate him so much, but after he has done so many things, Elizabeth’s prejudice is eliminated and she feels so grateful to Darcy.

Darcy feels sorry at the beginning. He is also surprised and excited. Originally, Darcy doesn’t want Elizabeth to know everything. He doesn’t help her sister for certain purpose. Generally, he is delighted that Elizabeth is not so indifferent to him as before. He has never wanted to get her gratitude, but this time he feels hopeful. He tells Elizabeth that all his done was for her only, because it’s only her in his heart. He shows his affections to her again which makes Elizabeth so embarrassed. Darcy also apologizes for his pride in the past time. Now, they have cleared up the misunderstanding. It’s a turning point of their emotional journey.

参考资料：

Unit 1

Chaucer ---The Canterbury Tales

1.Symbol: Springtime

the beginning of things is exactly what the poem emphasizes in its description of springtime, talking about how the wind spreads the seeds that peek their heads above the soil as they begin to grow into crops, and how birds begin their mating season.

The poem might start this way in order to remind us how pilgrimages are also a start of new beginnings. See, the idea of a pilgrimage is that you start on a journey of repentance, beginning a new life, one free from sin. In the beginning of the poem, then, the springtime is a symbol of the new beginnings and the creation of new lives the pilgrims are about to undertake.

2.Allegory 寓言: Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury

It's probable that the pilgrims' journey from London to Canterbury represents another journey that was very important to a medieval person: the journey from Earth to Heaven. As the journey begins, we have a sinful group of pilgrims, many of whom are hiding various vices and dirty secrets. Their pilgrimage is meant to be a journey of repentance, so that by the time they reach Canterbury, they will be fully cleansed of these sins. Thus, in this allegory, the tavern 客栈represents the sinful life on Earth, while Canterbury represents the sin-free life in heaven all people are trying to reach

3. Social significance of the poem

The Canterbury Tales is more than a mere collection of true-to-life pictures. Taking the stand of the rising bourgeoisie, Chaucer affirms men and women’s right to pursue their happiness on earth and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by the church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praised man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. His tales expose and satirize the evils of the time, as the degeneration of the noble, the heartlessness of judge and so on. With especially formidable force Chaucer attacks the corruption of the church.

Unit 2

Shakespeare----Hamlet

哈姆雷特是莎士比亚精心塑造的人文主义者的形象，他对人自身、对人类的明天满怀热爱和信心, 有着无比的智慧, 人文主义教育使他胸怀远大抱负但突破其来的巨变，使他遭受了那样多的不快，他无忧无虑、明朗爽快的性格发生了变化。他渴望用进步的人文主义思想改造社会，却又觉重任难当，难以施为。踌躇难决之下，他苦思焦虑，性格一变而为忧虑沉闷，更因复仇的证据不足，一时也找不复仇的时机，无法贸然行动，这使得他优柔寡断，但他采取的一系列措施

无不表现了他的机智勇敢、镇定缜密以及超人的智慧。Shakespeare's Hamlet is the best shape in the image of humanism, full of love and confidence in the future of mankind. He used to have immense wisdom and humanist education in mind forms his ambitious. But after he suffered overnight tremendous changes, his open and forthright character changed. He was looking forward to using the idea of humanism to change the social progress, but he felt he couldn’t deserve it. Monologue of a strong sense of guilt reflects his pain and contradictory state of mind. Also some of his steps taken to assassinate his uncle show his ingenuity, courageous, calm careful and superhuman knowledge.

1. Themes:

Madness

Madness –both real and feigned –is at the heart of the play. Hamlet's "antic disposition" has famously sparked a scholarly debate: Does Hamlet truly go "mad" or is it all an act? An impossible mystery, it's one of many unanswered questions raised by the play. Nevertheless, the complexity and sheer ambiguity of Hamlet's mental state and erratic behavior is compelling and seems to speak to the play's overall atmosphere of uncertainty and doubt. Ophelia's clear descent into madness (and subsequent drowning) is somewhat of a different issue. Critics tend to agree that Ophelia seemingly cracks under the strain of Hamlet's abuse and the weight of patriarchal forces, which has important implications for the play's portrayal of "Gender" and "Sex."

Revenge

Hamlet gears up to be a traditional bloody revenge play – and then it stops. The bulk of the play deals not with Hamlet's ultimately successful vengeance on his father's murderer, but with Hamlet's inner struggle to take action. The play concludes with a bloodbath that's typical of revenge tragedy, but Hamlet's infamous delay sets it apart from anything that's come before it. Hamlet is also notable for the way it weaves together three revenge plots, all of which involve sons seeking vengeance for their fathers' murders. Ultimately, the play calls into question the validity and usefulness of revenge.

Mortality

Hamlet's musings on suicide, especially the "to be or not to be" speech, are legendary and continue to direct discussions of the value of life and the mystery of death. But Hamlet himself never commits suicide. It is Ophelia, who never mentions the possibility of taking her own life, who drowns, seemingly as a result of some combination of madness and despair. Death threads its way through the entirety of Hamlet, from the opening scene's confrontation with a dead man's ghost to the bloodbath of the final scene, which leaves almost every main character dead. Hamlet constantly contemplates death from many angles. He is both seduced and repelled by the idea of suicide, but, in the famous gravedigger scene, he is also fascinated by the physical reality of death. In a way, Hamlet can be viewed as extended dialogue between Hamlet and death.

Religion

Hamlet is not necessarily a play about "religion" but it does register many of religious ideologies and spiritual anxieties of the 16th century. Here we're talking about the effects of the Protestant Reformation, and Christian ideas about "Mortality" and the

afterlife, all of which have major implications for the play's portrayal of the ghost. Hamlet is also interesting for the way it weaves together Christian attitudes toward murder, suicide, and revenge, which don't necessarily square with the basic tenets we typically find in the "Genre" of Revenge Tragedy.

Lies and Deceit

Hamlet, more than almost any character in literature, hates deception and craves honesty. It is one of the brilliant ironies of the play that Hamlet, an absolutist in his quest for truth, is trapped in a seamy political world where deception is a necessary part of life and political "spin" rules the day. This contrast, fascinating to the audience, is a torment to Hamlet. Deception is necessary for and used by every character in Hamlet, for every purpose ranging from love to parenting to regicide.

Art and Culture

Literary critics consider Hamlet to be one of Shakespeare's most "self-reflexive" plays, which is to say that Hamlet self-consciously refers to the workings of the theater and also draws the audien...

Sonnet 18

莎士比亚诗歌的两个主题：时光不饶人，青春和美丽是短暂的；只有诗歌才有力量使美丽与爱情永存。

(theme: 只有文学可与时间抗衡)

Change, Fate, and Eternity

However much it might look he’s praising a beloved, this poet is definitely more concerned with tooting his own horn. Really, you could sum up the poem like this: "Dear Beloved: You’re better than a summer’s day. But only because I can make you eternal by writing about you. Love, Shakespeare." That message is why images and symbols of time, decay, and eternity are all over this poem. Whether or not we think the beloved is actually made immortal (or just more immortal than the summer’s day) is up in the air, but it’s certainly what the speaker wants you to think.

Line 4: This is where the speaker starts pointing to how short summer feels. Using personification and metaphor, the speaker suggests that summer has taken out a lease on the weather, which must be returned at the end of the summer. Summer is treated like a home-renter, while the weather is treated like a real-estate property.

Lines 7-8: These lines give us the problem (everything’s going to fade away) that the poet is going to work against.

Lines 9-12: These lines are full of all sorts of figurative language, all pointing to how the speaker is going to save the beloved from the fate of fading away. The beloved’s life is described in a metaphor as a "summer," and then his or her beauty is described in another metaphor as a commodity than can be owned or owed. Death is then personified, as the overseer of the shade (a metaphor itself for an afterlife). Finally the "lines to time" are a metaphor for poetry, which will ultimately save the beloved, and "eternal" is a parallel with "eternal summer" in line 9.

Lines 13-14: What’s so interesting about these lines is that it’s hard to tell whether the speaker is using figurative language or not. Does he actually mean that the poem is alive, and that it will keep the beloved alive? Well, it depends what we mean by "alive."