SONNET 18

HELLO GUYS:)) WHILE SNOWING WE ARE GONNA GOING ON WHERE WE STOP IT IS TIME TO SONNET 18 BEFORE READING THIS SONNET I JUST WANNA GIVE SOME INFORMATION ...

Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron

From Shakespeare's patrons & other essays by Henry Brown. London: J. M. Dent & sons. 
The poet was throughout his life greatly indebted to the patronage and support of royal and noble personages; his royal patrons were Queen Elizabeth and King James I, both of whom greatly loved the drama. The virgin queen devoted herself to the study of the ancient classical period; she also delighted in our own theatrical entertainments, and used her influence in the progress of the English drama, and fostered the inimitable genius of Shakespeare. In regard to her taste for the ancient stage, Sir Roger Naunton tells us "That the great Queen translated one of the tragedies of Euripides from the original Greek for her amusement." Shakespeare was ardently attracted to Elizabeth and her Court, and proved a faithful servant to his royal mistress. The first evidence of this is in his fine eulogy of the virgin queen in that most sweetly poetical early drama, A Midsummer-Night's Dream, as "a fair vestal throned by the west"; the play was probably produced for a special Court performance. The passage in which these words occur is a gem of poetical beauty and is the most exquisite compliment she ever received from any poet of her day. Our poet thus muses —

"That very time I saw — but thou couldst not —
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow
As it should pierce a hundred-thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation fancy free." — Act II., Sc. i.

A story of Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare must perhaps be noticed here, the anecdote a mere late eighteenth-century invention relating to Queen Elizabeth at a theatre one evening while Shakespeare was playing a king, and bowing to him as she crossed the stage, but he went on with his part without returning the salutation. The Queen again passed him, and to directly attract his attention dropped her glove; the poet at once picked it up, and, continuing the delivery of his speech, added these lines —

"And though now bent on this high embassy,
Yet stoop we to take up our cousin's glove."

The Queen, we are told, was greatly pleased. The story is obviously absurd and incredible. Elizabeth did not visit the public theatres, and the custom was to sit removed from the stage at both private and also at Court performances, and her majesty, however much she may have estimated plays and players, and Shakespeare in particular, would not thus have forgotten her queenly state and dignity.

Returning to historical fact, we find from the State papers, etc., that Shakespeare, Burbage, and others played in two comedies before the Queen in December, 1594, at the Royal Palace at Greenwich; these players then took the leading position as servants to the Lord Chamberlain, though no record has been discovered of the names of the plays performed by them before the Queen at this period. But it is known that "The Pleasant Conceited Comedy of Love's Labour's Lost" was played before her highness in the Christmas holidays on December 26, 1597, and in this and the following year the Queen witnessed the First and Second Parts ofKing Henry IV, both new plays, and was very pleased with the performances. Falstaff gave great delight to the royal spectator and her Court, and at her wish to see exhibited the fat knight in love, the poet produced the comedy of The Merry Wives of Windsor; this play gave infinite satisfaction to all beholders. The part of Falstaff was written originally under the name of Oldcastle; some of that family being then remaining, the Queen was pleased to command him to alter it, upon which he made use of Falstaff, a name that now represents the most humorous character the stage or the world has seen.

It is known from the State papers and other authentic documents that the company to which the poet belonged were, in the Christmas holidays of 1598-1599, playing before the Queen at Whitehall and at Richmond Palace; they also played again before her majesty at the latter palace on two occasions in the year 1600, and at the former palace in the Christmas festivities of the same year, and on February 24, 1601, they played before her Majesty at Richmond Palace, and again before the Queen at Whitehall during the festivities of 1601-1602.

MY DEAR FRIENDS I KNOW IT IS TOO LONG BUT FOR THE SAKE OF SHAKESPEARE OR WHO WONDER ABOUT HIM MAYBE WANT TO READ AND IF YOU LET ME I WANNA MOVE ON MY FAVORITE SONNET(SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER'S DAY)

SONNET 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; 
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 
                                                     W.SHAKESPEARE
AS YOU KNOW THE LANGUAGE THAT IS ON THE LINE IS OLD SHAKESPEAREAN LANGUAGE BECAUSE OF THAT REASON IT IS REALLY HARD TO UNDERSTAND  TO UNDERSTAND BETTER I WILL SHARE WITH YOU THE PARAPHRASING...

SONNET 18	PARAPHRASE
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?	Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:	You are more lovely and more constant:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,	Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:	And summer is far too short:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,	At times the sun is too hot,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;	Or often goes behind the clouds;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,	And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;	By misfortune or by nature's planned out course.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade	But your youth shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;	Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,	Nor will death claim you for his own,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;	Because in my eternal verse you will live forever.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,	So long as there are people on this earth,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.	So long will this poem live on, making you immortal.