Shakespeare's Sonnets 18, 73, 97

Poets have often looked to nature for inspiration and as a vehicle for self-expression. Throughout his lifetime, William Shakespeare is known to have written 154 sonnets, which cover various topics such as love, mortality, and the passage of time. Of these sonnets, sonnet numbers 18, 73, and 97 incorporate seasonal symbols that allow Shakespeare to express his love, the passage of time and its effect on him, and serve as a metaphor for the intense desolation he feels when he is away from the person he loves.

Sonnet 18, more commonly known by its opening line of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day," utilizes seasonal symbols as a measure of beauty. In this sonnet, Shakespeare considers nature to be beautiful, however, he points out its cyclical nature and argues that his beloved's beauty, unlike nature's, is constant. He begins, "Shall I compare thee...
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