Sonnet 18

What it is

Sonnet 18 is one of 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare and published in 1609. It is part of what scholars call the Fair Youth sequence, addressed to an unnamed young man, and follows the traditional English sonnet form of three quatrains and a closing couplet.

Why it matters

The sonnet compares its subject favourably to a summer's day, arguing that while nature fades, the young man will live forever through the words of the poem itself. This idea—that poetry can grant a kind of immortality to its subject—is one of Shakespeare's most famous literary claims, and the poem remains one of the best-known in the English language.

Look closer

• What does the poem claim will outlast the summer, and why?
• Why might Shakespeare have chosen nature imagery to make a point about poetry and permanence?
• What does the poem leave out about the person it addresses?