Abigail Philip
English 102
Dr. Smith
Essay Exam 1
10/10/06
Thematic Comparison
When reading poems, there are always symbols present. Symbols are a
very important aspect of poems because they give the reader a better understanding
of the poem. Symbols can also link one poem to another. Symbols are items, images,
or actions used in literary works to broaden the meaning. In this essay, I will
compare the use of nature symbols in the poems “Shall I Compare Thee to a
summer’s Day?” “My Mistresses Eyes are nothing like the Sun,” and “When you
are Old.”
Firstly, in the poem “Shall I compare Thee to a summer’s day?” by William
Shakespeare, the nature symbols that are present are a summer’s day, rough winds,
darling buds of May, summer’s lease, the eye of heaven shines, nature’s changing
course, eternal summer, death, shade and eyes. In the poem, the poet uses these
symbols to tell us the readers a story, Shakespeare uses these symbols to compare
and contrast in the poem. Nature is compared to the poet’s lover and the reason for
this is that he is basically saying that his lover is better than a summer’s day. An
example of this is “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely
and more temperate.” (ll.1-2). In these two lines Shakespeare, is comparing a
woman to a summer’s day and saying that she is lovelier and more temperate. A
summer’s day is usually really hot and humid and so he’s saying that she is lovelier
and milder. He is saying that there is no comparison between the two because his
lover is better than a summer’s day.
In the poem “My mistresses’ Eyes are nothing like the Sun,” the nature
symbols are eyes, sun, coral, snow, roses damaskt, red and white, roses, ground, and
heaven. In this poem also, the poet uses the symbols in the poem to tell us a story, he
is also comparing his mistress or his lover to nature. It is interesting though because
William Shakespeare is also the author of this poem and is once again comparing
his mistress to nature, however this time his comparison is the opposite and instead
and speaking as if his mistress is perfect or better than nature, he is acknowledging
that she has faults. In doing this the author is showing through his comparisons of
symbols that although flawed compared to the symbols, he loves her for who she is.
An example of this is “My mistresses’ eyes are nothing like the sun; /Coral is far
more red than her lips red: / If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun ;”(ll.1-
3). In these lines we see the mistresses’ eyes being compared to the sun, we know
that the sun shines brightly but the author is saying that her eyes are nothing like
that. Also that coral is redder than her lips. The symbols bring sense to the poem.
In my final poem, “When you are old” the nature symbols are dream,
pilgrim soul, glowing bars, stars, mountains, shadows and fire. The poet uses
symbols in the poem to demonstrate time. The nature in this poem I think is used to
speak about time and of a woman, whom the author loved. He is using the symbols
to express his feelings and thoughts to this woman. He is telling her basically that
she is going to regret not wanting him. That as time passes by and she gets old and
will be lonely, she’ll remember that he was the one that loved her for who she was
on the inside and on the outside. “The pilgrim soul in you,” (ll.7), refers to her free
spirit. The symbols and the ways in which they are used also tell a story of regret
because the author, Yeats is saying that she will regret not wanting him.
I think that the use of nature symbols in all these poems show very similar
patterns. In each poem, the author is male and is writing about a female. They use
nature symbols to compare and contrast these women. In one case, Shakespeare
uses nature symbols in two different poems and does the complete opposite. He, in
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” uses these symbols to portray the fact
that he thinks his mistress or lover is better than a summer’s day and is of no
comparison to it and she is flawless, when on the other hand in the poem “My
mistresses Eyes are nothing like the Sun” he makes comparisons which makes his
mistress very flawed and has many imperfections, however he still loves her.
Also, in these poems the authors use nature symbols to write about their
mistresses but the women are not mentioned by name in any of these poems, it is the
author’s however who are remembered through time and have gained eternity by
the poems.
In conclusion, in the three poems “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s
Day,” “My mistresses Eyes are nothing like the Sun” and “When you are Old,”
nature symbols are used extensively throughout the poems and are used to make
comparisons to women. These symbols are used to help give us a clearer
understanding of the poems. These nature symbols tie these three poems together
and are present in all three poems.