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Saturday 22 June 2019

Saturday Rave: Sonnet No 18 by William Shakespeare

This poem has been named by some people who claim to be serious the greatest poem ever written.

That seems an odd claim to want to make, quite honestly, but I wouldn't argue that it isn't up there with the best.

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.


What do you think? I find it slightly disappointing that it turns from a love poem to a boost-your-own-brand job. 

But it's still terrific. 

Best poem ever?

Well, do please let us know if you think you know of a better one.

Word To Use Today: trimmed. This word isn't to do with tinsel or ribbons, but to do with sailing ships. You trim the sails of a ship, that is adjust them, to allow you to maintain your desired course. Both meanings of trimmed come from the same root, the Old English trymman to strengthen. Rather sweetly, it's related to the Old Irish druma, which means tree.


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