Scan the poem “Sonnet 18”.

Scan the poem “Sonnet 18”.

Scanning a poem involves identifying its meter and rhyme scheme. William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) “Sonnet 18” (1609) is written in iambic pentameter, the most common meter in his sonnets. This means each line typically contains 10 syllables, with a pattern of alternating unstressed (˘) and stressed (´) syllables (da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM). Here’s the scanned version of Sonnet 18:

˘Sháll Ĭ / ˘compáre / ˘thee tó / ˘a súm / ˘mer’s dáy?

˘Thou árt / ˘more lóv / ˘ly ánd / ˘more tém / ˘peráte:

˘Rough wínds / ˘do sháke / ˘the dárl / ˘ing búds / ˘of Máy,

˘And súm / ˘mer’s léase / ˘hath áll / ˘too shórt / ˘a dáte;

˘Some-tímes / ˘too hót / ˘the éye / ˘of héav / ˘en shínes,

˘And óft / ˘en ís / ˘his góld / ˘com-pléx / ˘ion dímm’d;

˘And év / ˘ery fáir / ˘from fáir / ˘some-tíme / ˘declínes,

˘By chánce / ˘or ná / ˘ture’s cháng / ˘ing coúrse / ˘untrímm’d;

˘But thy / ˘etérn / ˘al súm / ˘mer shall / ˘not fáde,

˘Nor lóse / ˘pos-séss / ˘ion of / ˘that fáir / ˘thou ow’st;

˘Nor sháll / ˘death brág / ˘thou wán / ˘der’st ín / ˘his sháde,

˘When ín / ˘etérn / ˘al lín / ˘es to tíme / ˘thou grow’st;

˘So lóng / ˘as mén / ˘can breáthe / ˘or éyes / ˘can sée,

˘So lóng / ˘lives thís, / ˘and thís / ˘gives lífe / ˘to thée.

Prosodic Name: This scansion shows the metrical structure of the poem, which is written in iambic pentameter. The rhythm is composed of iambs (metrical feet with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, ˘´). Each line has five feet (pentameter means “five measures”). Thus, the full prosodic name is Iambic Pentameter. This meter is a hallmark of Shakespeare’s poetry and much of English Renaissance verse.