Rhetoric and Prosody

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.

Shall I | com-paré| thee to | a sum | mer’s day?     

Thou art | more love-| ly and | more tem-| pe-rate:

Rough winds | do shake | the dar-| ling buds |of May,

And sum- |mer’s lease | hath all | too short | a date:

Some-time | too hot |the eye |of hea- |ven shines,

And of- | ten is | his gold | com-plex- | ion dimm’d;

By chance | or na |-ture’s chang |-ing course |un-trimm’d;

But thy |e-ter- |nal sum- |mer shall |not fade

Nor lose |po-sse|ssion of |that fair |thou ow’st;

Nor shall |Death brag |thou wan-|der’st in |his shade,

When in |e-ter-|nal 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.