Long Questions and Answers from 'Shall I Compare Thee' for Class 12.

 Long/ broad/ descriptive Suggestive Questions and Answers from 'Shall I Compare Thee' for West Bengal Board Class Xii students.

  Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?

 1) "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?...all too short a date"- Explain.

Ans:- These lines have been taken from " Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" written by William Shakespeare. The poet expresses his deep faith in the immortality of his friend's beauty. 

 The poet emphasizes that his friend's lovliness is much superior to that of a summer's day. He is more even-tempered than the summer season. He is more attractive and impressive than it. Sometime rough winds violently shake the tiny buds of May. But the beauty of the poet's friend is enduring and everlasting. It never fades away and it does withstand the ravages of time. So the poet hesitates to compare his friend to a summer's day.

 2) "Some times too hot the eye of heaven shines...By chance or nature changing course untrimmed"- Why does the 'eye of heaven' mean here? Why does the poet use the word 'fair' twice? How does 'every fair' decline? 

Ans:-  These lines have been taken from 'Shall I Compare Thee' written by William Shakespeare. The 'eye of heaven' means 'the sun'. 

      Shakespear uses the word 'fair' twice to refer  to every beautiful object or nature and to suggest fairness as a whole.

       According to the poet, every beautiful thing of nature loses its beauty either by chance or by nature's changing course. Rough winds in summer destroy the buds which adorn every tree in May. Again, the gold complexion of the sun is dimmed when it goes behind the clouds. Every fair element of nature loses its beauty in course of time. No beauty can exist forever. It means that summer is short lived. 

3) " But thy eternal summer shall not fade... When in eternal lines to time thou growst"- Who is the poet? What is meant by 'thy eternal summer'? Whose eternal summer is referred to here? How does the poet suggest that 'the eternal summer' shall never end?

Ans:-  These lines have been taken from "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" written by William Shakespeare.

        The phrase 'eternal summer' means the immortality of the youth.

      The 'eternal summer' of the poet's friend who is 'the world's fresh ornament' is referred to here. 

     According to the poet, summer is undoubtedly beautiful, but it loses its beauty with the passages of time. The poet thinks that his friend is more lovely and moderate than the beauty of summer. The poet here boldly affirms that his friend is the embodiment of eternal beauty. Nothing can steal away his summer nor defile the sublimity that his friend is possessed of. His friend will remain beautiful for ever. Here the poet wants to immortalize his friend through his verse.