Question 12
Examine the theme of beauty in the poem, "Shall I Compare thee to a Summer's Day?"
Observation
Many candidates attempted this question. However, majority of them only discussed the beauty of summer in the poem, without relating it to the persona's lover.
The required answer should include the following points:
• The poet's identification of beauty in summer and in his lover.
• No matter how beautiful summer is, it is incomparable to his lover's beauty.
• Summer's beauty has limitation while his lover's does not.
• His lover's beauty is immortal as presented in the last couplet for generations to remember, while the beauty of summer does not last.
Candidates' performance in this question was fair.