Simplified English:

Shall I compare you to a summer's day?

You are more lovely and more constant:
Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
And summer is far too short:
At times the sun is too hot,
Or often goes behind the clouds;
And everything beautiful sometime will lose
its beauty,
By misfortune or by nature's planned out
course.
But your youth shall not fade,
Nor will you lose the beauty that you
possess;
Nor will death claim you for his own,
Because in my eternal verse you will live
forever.
So long as there are people on this earth,
So long will this poem live on, making you
immortal.
Theme:
The main theme is that the object of the
speaker's affection (his beloved) will live
forever in the poem he's written about her.
The idea is that, even though the beloved
will eventually die, her beauty and goodness
will live on and be remembered whenever
people read Sonnet 18. Eternal Summer and
Eternal Life are attributes of the spirit. for
those who live according to the highest
spiritual precepts, the beauty of the spirit,
found in the soul of man, is everlasting and
outshines the seasons of life.

Death won't be able to brag about taking

the beloved because she will achieve a kind
of immortality through art.
Imagery:
Clearly Shakespeare knows that physical
beauty, even the physical beauty of his
lover, must someday fade and die. However,
he amends this reality by the existence of
Sonnet 18 itself. He writes that the
existence of his poem will defeat death and
time's affects upon his love.

The imagery is quite simple and concrete

using the metaphor of the eye of heaven
to picture sun; the youth will become
embodiment of eternal summer. Also the
death is conventionally personified.
Self Interpretation:
We see that this sonnet is not only a love
poem, but that it also poses questions about
the nature of poetry and its qualities.
Furthermore, it makes us think about the
relationship between the existence of mankind
and the existence of art in general. So long
as men can breathe or eyes can see implies
that only existence is not sufficient for the art
to survive; it can be eternal only if there are
people who can see, who can appreciate it
and take care of it.
The final lines reveal Shakespeare's serious
feelings for his subject. Though he may have
written his sonnet partially in jest, the ending
may reveal that he seriously believes he has
paid the world the honor of preserving her
beauty. However, it is equally possible that
Shakespeare is extending the joke in that he is
now flattering his descriptive powers rather
than the subjective.
Sonnet 23:
As an vnperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his feare is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing repleat with too much
rage,
Whose strengths abondance weakens his own
heart:
So I for feare of trust, forget to say,
The perfect ceremony of loues right,
And in mine owne loues strength seeme to
decay,
Ore-chargd with burthen of mine owne loues
might:
O let my books be then the eloquence,
And domb presagers of my speaking brest,
Who pleade for loue, and look for recompence,
More then that tonge that more hath more
exprest.
O learne to read what silent loue hath writ,
To heare with eies belongs to loues fine wit.

Simplified English:
Like a beginning actor on the stage
who is too nervous to speak his lines,
or like someone possessing so much emotion
that the thought of expressing it verbally is
too daunting;
so I, not trusting myself, neglect to tell you
face-to-face how I truly feel, as any lover
should as a
normal part of courtship,
and, paradoxically, seem to be withdrawing,
when in fact
I am actually overwhelmed by the strength of
my love for
you.
Therefore, please read these carefully
composed sonnets
that are silent representations of my inner
voice
that are pleading for your love and looking for
a favorable
response,
much more so than anything I might have the
courage to
speak openly about.
Oh, learn to read what silent love has written,
and use your eyes to hear what I truly wish I
could speak
out loud.
Theme:
The overall theme is that the two people,
speaker and subject have a difficult time
expressing themselves verbally. That is why
Shakespeare uses metaphors to convey his
message. The next two lines suggest that it
could be burning passion that is keeping him
so weak that he forgets his lines: Or some
fierce thing replete with too much rage, whose
strengths abundance weakens his own heart.
Imagery:
He composes the entire poem based on
imagery, similes and metaphors. With the

first line As an unperfect actor on the stage,

this simile is used to compare the subject to
an unperfect actor. An unperfect actor is one
who may forget his lines or get stage fright.
This symbolism shows that the subject is
uncomfortable or awkward expressing himself.
As the actor, so the poet is fearful, because
there is not sufficient trust (feare of trust)
for him to voice his feelings. Too fearful to
speak and fearful also of the response, he is
overcome and forgets to pronounce the
perfect ceremony of loues right; perfect
contrasts with the vnperfect actor who, like
the poet, had the words but couldnt
enunciate them. A ceremony is an outward
rite requiring spoken words, which, like vows
in a marriage ceremony, are portents of what
will be; loues right is that which belongs to
love as a right, or is loves rite, the
declaration of the vows of love.
Self Interpretation:
Shakespeare says that he too acts as an
unperfect actor, forgetting what he would say
to his lover in his presence. Forget to say the
things a lover should say to his darling; Just
like an unperfect actor forgets his lines on
stage because of nervousness. Further down
in the sonnet, Shakespeare uses writing as a
metaphor of his heart speaking, So let my
writings speak for my heart instead. He
suggests that his writings speak better then
he can, O let my books be then the
eloquence, and dumb presagers of my
speaking breast. In the couplet, he paints an
image of love having brains to decipher coded
mannerisms. O learn to read what silent
love hath writ! To hear with eyes belongs to
loves fine wit, the overall message is to rely
on love to read between the lines.