277. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" (page 331)

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" is a poem written by William Shakespeare, professing his feelings that the subject is infinitely perfect both in beauty and in character, and that his poem will keep the memory of this subject alive forever.  This is achieved through the use of Allegory and Imagery, as the line, "Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade", where death bragging of having the subject in his shade is an allegory representing both the literal idea that death will not be holding the subject in his shade, but also representing the idea that the subject will not die, which as the poem continues, Shakespeare explains this immortality as the result of his poem keeping the memory of the subject alive forever. Similarly, through imagery in the line, "By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed", it is depicted that the trees are losing their leaves with the coming of winter, an image which contrasts with the previous depiction of the summer's day. The meaning of this line is as part of a series of lines wherein Shakespeare expresses how the subject is in fact better than the summer's day, as where the summer's day will eventually spawn the transition to winter and the trees will become barren of leaves and their beauty, the subject will never lose that same beauty.