Inspy Romance

Inspy Romance—Fall in Love With a Good Book

Study your Shakespeare, Win a $10 Gift Card!

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Hey there, Lee Tobin McClain here, letting my inner English teacher out to play. It’s summer, a great time for reading and romance… and a great time to test your understanding of a great poem about summer and love. Here’s Sonnet 18 by that master of romance, William Shakespeare:

 

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 dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest 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.

 

How good are you at literary analysis? Test yourself, then look at the answers and let us know how you did and what surprised you. I’ll do a drawing from all those who comment by July 15th for a $10 Amazon gift card.

Quiz

  1. What is the “eye of heaven” in line 5?
  1. What is one thing that’s wrong with summer, according to Shakespeare?
  1. What is the “this” of the last line?
  1. Who wins the comparison game: the beloved, or summertime?
  1. Do you think this poem is romantic? Why or why not?

 

Now, here’s the part where I need to insert something to fill space so that you don’t accidentally see the answers before you’ve given the quiz a try. Hmmm, let’s see: how about a look at my latest book cover, the first of the Sacred Bond covers featuring a couple instead of an individual hero. I absolutely love this cover, and it fits the story of a disabled veteran and a struggling single mom perfectly. Love my cover designer—thank you, Angela Waters!

 

It's not Shakespeare, but it's a fun and heartwarming story!

It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s a fun and heartwarming story!

 

Quiz Answers:

  1. the sun
  1. Lots! Summer winds destroy spring flowers, summer is short, it’s hot, the sun is sometimes covered by clouds… and it ends!
  1. the poem itself
  1. the beloved
  1. To me… yes and no. The poet does state that his beloved is lovely and “temperate.” And what woman wouldn’t want to be told that “Thy eternal summer shall not fade”? Only problem is… in the final couplet, the poet explains the reason her loveliness will last forever, and it’s nothing to do with her. Rather, the poet is cockily certain that his poem will last forever, thus preserving the beloved and her beauty. Of course, he is right!

How did you do? Had you read this poem before? Do you like it? Comment below for a chance to win a $10 gift card. Maybe you’ll use it to buy a collection of Shakespeare’s sonnets!

Side note: if you’re looking for a clean, sweet YA novel for your bored middle-schooler, click here to check out my teen novel, SIZZLE. It’s on sale TODAY ONLY as a part of this Amazon Prime promotion.

Lee Tobin McClain (52 Posts)

Lee Tobin McClain read Gone With The Wind in the third grade and has been an incurable romantic ever since. Lee is the author of the Sacred Bond series of contemporary inspirational romances and also writes the Rescue River books (angsty, but full of fun kids and dogs) for Harlequin Love Inspired. When she not writing emotional Christian romances, she's probably driving around a carload of snarky teen girls, playing with her rescue dog and cat, or teaching aspiring writers in Seton Hill University's MFA program. She is probably not cleaning her house.


Comments

  1. Thanks Lee, this was lovely. I have read this before, and have to confess that whenever I hear/read this sonnet, I am reminded (strangely enough) of a British comedy show that my dad (ok, me too!) loves called the “Darling Buds of May”. Bit random, but that is what I think of!! Like the book cover. Is Sizzle available as a paperback? I teach junior English, and am always looking for good, clean YA books to add to my classroom library.

  3. Inspiring blog, Lee. I am a retired English teacher, but primarily taught American Literature. Even though I have often quoted the first line, I do not remember ever looking closely at the rest of the sonnet. The poem is point on in describing summer this year. Summer is not very temperate and definitely hot and passes quickly. Love the dogs adoring look on your new cover. Well done.

    Yesterday afternoon tragedy occurred in my community. Many of you last night or this morning are hearing about the court house shooting in St. Joseph, Michigan. My family lives two miles from the courthouse. Daily my oldest son drives by the courthouse on his way to work. I have friends who know the families personally. While in the past we have had racial tensions or drownings due to people not heeding the undertow warnings, never did we imagine something would happen in the courthouse, one of the safest places in the county – with metal detectors and no cell phone allowed. Please pray for the families. Thank You!

  4. I was always a big fan of poetry, although I’m not into memorizing them, so I’m guessing I’ve heard it before just didn’t remember (probably during high school). We’ve recently purchased what is suppose to be the complete works of Shakespeare, but I have to admit I’ve only skimmed through it.
    As for your questions, I certainly didn’t get them all right and I couldn’t agree more with your assessment of how romantic is the poem. It reminds me of Songs of Solomon, probably the entire book, but my favorite is verse 9 chapter 1 (“I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses” NIV version), because who doesn’t like to be compared to the Pharaoh’s horses?

  7. Thanks for commenting, especially when something so awful happened in your community, Renate. I hadn’t yet turned on the news or read the papers, so this is the first I heard about it. It is such a scary world we live in. Prayer is the only answer, for sure… your community has mine.

  9. That was an interesting quiz. I didn’t get all of the answers correct, but, at least I tried. I enjoy Shakespeare and Virginia has a Shakespeare Festival. I fell in love with Shakespeare in middle school, many, many years ago.

  11. Got most of the questions right. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any sort of literary analysis. It was kind of fun. :) I suppose you could look at it that the the poet is cockily assuming his poem will last and therefore preserve the beloved and her beauty. Or you could look at it slightly differently-that he is so enamored with her that he’s writing the poem for her so that others will know of her beauty, even those into the future. As far as being compared to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses, I would imagine those are some pretty magnificent creatures-sleek, graceful, beautiful, strong. I wouldn’t mind being compared to that. There are some translations that translate the verse a little differently, too. A few specifically say “MY mare among the chariots of Pharaoh” which is meaningful in that he’s comparing her to HIS mare, one I’m sure he loves and thinks is an amazing creature, one he has a rapport with. A couple of other translations (one being NLT) say something along the lines of, “You are as exciting, my darling, as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.” The implication being that she excites men as a mare would excite the stallions of Pharaoh’s chariots. Any of the ways you look at it, I think it’s a pretty nice comparison. Anyway, thanks for the chance to use some old skills I haven’t in a while in literary analysis. :)

  14. Love your comment, Julie, especially your analysis of the mare among horses passage. I had never thought about it that way, and now I WISH one of my dates would compare me to a mare!

  15. I always loved this passage from Shakespeare.I always felt that it was so romantic and now your telling me it was but it wasn’t….sounds like Shakespeare was a little egotistical to me!!

  16. If I ever read it, I’d forgotten it :-) I got all but one answer correct! That’s pretty good before breakfast when I’m still waking up :-)

  17. Nobody says it quite like the Bard. I have always loved this sonnet. English was my minor in college so of course we studied Shakespeare. While his language may sometimes be a challenge, his works are timeless. Thanks for sharing this.

  18. A fun post! I must admit I haven’t done much literary analysis lately, but I didn’t do too badly on the quiz. Although I have read some Shakespeare and seen and enjoyed some of his plays, I usually prefer reading things I don’t have to think so hard about to get the meaning. :)

  20. I am so surprised that I got all of the questions correct. My grandson is a rising 10th grader in high school. This past year they studied Romeo and Juliet. We studied it together so I am thinking that the refresher I had helping my grandson with Romeo and Juliet must have helped me with this. Next year they will be studying Macbeth.

    The funny thing is that I never cared for literary analysis back, many years ago, when I was in high school. Guess, all of the years since have softened me some. Now, I am enjoying going over Shakespeare’s literary works with my grandson. Maybe, it might have helped me back then to have someone go over it with me or he might have a teacher that makes it more interesting for the students.

  24. Congratulations on getting a 100% grade! You are doing your grandson a real service by helping him get into Shakespeare. Great ideas, great themes, and his work definitely makes you think.

  25. And I’m so glad you do! I like to relax when I read, so I prefer books that don’t make me think hard. Thanks for sharing your time and talents! :)

  27. This is the first time I’ve read it, I got 3 out of 5 correct.

    Beautiful cover for your latest book! Is it part of a new series?

  28. I never liked poetry until I finally had a teacher in high school that would tell us what a poem meant instead of asking us what we thought it meant. That helped me appreciate it much more.
    One of my favorite poets turned out to be William Wordsworth.

  30. Good job! Thanks for the compliment about the book cover. It’s a spinoff from my Sacred Bond Guardians series. Shane, the hero, was Mark Stern’s friend growing up (Mark is the hero of A WESTERN BOND).

  32. I’ve never read this poem before Lee! I only missed one out of them all, not too bad of odds I’d say :-) I loved poems in school and had a fun time trying to interpret the author’s meaning. I haven’t read too many in years past, I guess I’ve replaced books with poems, lol!

    Fun quiz, neat poem, thanks for sharing :-)

  33. That was fun! It took me back to my junior year of high school when we studied a lot of Shakespeare :) I did pretty well, but you clarified that the word “this” is referring to the poem.

    colorvibrant at gmail dot com

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