Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?, as a high school student, the romantic aspect wasn’t what initially captivated me. It wasn’t a budding romance that drew me in, nor simply the vivid imagery, beautiful as it was. Instead, it was the poem’s powerful declaration of permanence in its closing lines that truly resonated.
The Allure of Literary Immortality
Even as a young student, I understood the enduring nature of art, how literature could transcend time, achieving a form of eternity by connecting with readers across generations. This sonnet, however, presented something more profound. It boldly asserted immortality not just for itself as a work of art, but also for its subject. The poem directly proclaims to the subject:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
This declaration was arresting. The subject of the poem, crafted with elegant metaphors, is not just described but memorialized, imbued with lasting value and significance through the very act of poetic creation. This promise of literary immortality, the idea that words could grant enduring life, was a powerful concept.
A Personal Resonance: Finding Worth in Verse
My own experiences at the time were starkly different from this idealized permanence. Growing up as an impoverished, queer, Mexican immigrant in the America of the Reagan era, my life felt largely unrepresented and unseen. Mainstream culture offered little reflection of my reality – media, religious institutions, and even classrooms often lacked mirrors for my experiences. When aspects of my identity were acknowledged, such as fleeting, often negative, portrayals of gay men in the face of a terrifying new epidemic, it was often within a context of threat and marginalization. This invisibility and negative framing chipped away at my developing sense of self-worth, creating a feeling of existing on the periphery.
Language as Empowerment and Beauty
Within this context, Shakespeare’s sonnet acted as a spark. The final couplet, simultaneously acknowledging mortality and defying it, offered a transformative perspective. Here was language that could bestow worth, that could render someone beautiful through the power of its verse. This poem revealed the potential of language to elevate, to memorialize, and to offer a counter-narrative to experiences of invisibility and devaluation.
This initial encounter with Sonnet 18 became a foundational moment. While many experiences and discoveries lay ahead, this poem marked a beginning. It was a catalyst that would eventually lead me to writing my own intensely personal poems. My primary motivation for writing stems from a desire to give voice to what has been neglected, forgotten, or never acknowledged. It is through language that I strive to transmute pain and ugliness into beauty, to find the universal within the deeply personal. This transformative power of language, this glorious alchemy, was first illuminated for me in the enduring lines of Shakespeare’s sonnet.
