Sonnet 55

“Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare (1609)

Perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous poem, this sonnet builds a comparison between the fair youth and a summer day. Shakespeare argues that he cannot compare the fair youth to a summer day, and, ironically, he makes this argument by comparing the two. Ultimately, the poem focuses on all the negatives of a summer day, and it uses these negatives to show how the fair youth is an ideal example of beauty. At the end of the poem, Shakespeare claims that the fair youth will live forever because the poem has immortalized him, similar to the claim made in “Sonnet 55.”

“Sonnet 107” by William Shakespeare (1609)

“Sonnet 107” is similar to “Sonnet 55.” Both poems make an argument for the fair youth’s immortality, both argue that the poem serves as the living monument that gives immortality to the fair youth, and both poems suggest that the only thing that will outlive the poem is the final judgment, which will result in the fair youth being reborn. “Sonnet 107” also makes use of the image of monuments, making it something of a companion poem to “Sonnet 55.”

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818)