Sonnet Eighteen

Sonnet eighteen is unique in that instead of comparing the boy that the poem was written about as being as beautiful as a summer’s day, the speaker says that he is even better than one.  Usually in poems, the object of the speaker’s affection is just being compared to how wonderful, beautiful, and fair a summer’s day is and how much they resemble it.  In this sonnet, however, the speaker is toying with the idea of using summer as an accurate comparison to the boy, and then realizes that he is even better than summer.  It’s a unique take on the comparison which has become through time a cliché.  It sets the mood of the poem from the very beginning as one of praise and affection for the boy on the speaker’s end.  This attitude carries on throughout the whole sonnet, especially in the end where the speaker states that, although he may age like summer comes to an end, he will live on through this poem.  As long as people read about him in this poem, this idea of him will forever be portrayed.