Compare And Contrast Shakespeare And Sonnet 18

Shall I Compare Shakespeare to Thee? For unacquainted readers born four hundred years after Shakespeare, the value of Shakespeare’s original poem, “Sonnet 18,” may be questioned in favor of a translation of the poem, like Howard Moss’s translation. Despite the unfamiliarity in the Shakespearean poem, “Sonnet 18,” the structure, voice, and message of Shakespeare’s poem is more valuable than Moss’s translation. Unlike Howard Moss’s translation, the structure of Shakespeare’s poem strengthens the poem’s impact in the third stanza’s change of focus, the couplet’s finishing message, and use of iambic pentameter. In addition to Shakespeare’s stronger structure, his speaker’s wit and charm strengthen the message better than Moss’s translation.. With superior use of structure and voice, Shakespeare’s original “Sonnet 18” is more valuable than Moss’s translation. Shakespeare’s structure in “Sonnet 18” emphasizes the purpose and meaning of the poem. While both Shakespeare and Howard Moss use the same structure, Shakespeare’s use also strengthens the message. For example, in the third stanza, Shakespeare shifts the focus in the poem. In the previous lines, the speaker explains that “thee” is better than a summer’s day because “. . . every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature 's changing course, untrimm 'd,” (S18, line 7-8). The speaker explains that everything beautiful becomes less beautiful with time either by chance or nature’s plan. However, after these