Rhetorical Analysis: Poem

Rhetorical Analysis: Poem

The subject of this poem is summer. The occasion is a summers day. The audience is the woman he is comparing to a summer day. The purpose is to compare a beautiful summer day to this incredible lady. The speaker is William Shakespear, the author.

It is a catchy way to start the poem because it draws the reader in immediately and creates the desire to discover the answer to the question, making the poem much more interesting as a whole.

If they like the summer season; being warm, bright, and beautiful then they would like this comparison. However, if they live in a place other than southern California and do not have ideal summer seasons or just embrace cold weather and snow storms then this comparison may be somewhat annoying and irrelevant to them.

Temperate usually portrays something in its most moderate form. Meaning, not having an extreme of either side of a spectrum.

The negative aspects the author includes about a summer's day are that it may be too hot and too short. Also, summer sun can hide behind clouds or loose its beauty.

The speaker proposes this idea by saying her beauty will last through his eternal verse.

These elements create a visual imagine of the intricate summer scene the author is comparing this woman's beauty to.

The author first compares the girl to a summers day and second he states the poem will "live on forever". This type of personification creates the idea that rather than comparing a human to a poem he is instead comparing two beautiful things and concludes that the woman is ultimately more beautiful.

The tone of this poem is somewhat serious, a result of the implications of death and clouds on a sunny day. This may not appeal to an audience who particually enjoys summer and the bright bubbly images that it often portrays.

The syntax in these last two lines adds drama and ties the entire poem together. It emphasizes the last two lines which serve to extent them poem past the last period.

I believe this poem is effective because it ties in multiple elements that create an overall effective poem. Firstly, the use of imagery creates a visual image of beauty, the central focus of this poem. This, along with other devices such as clever syntax and personification make the poem very interactive and effective in producing the idea that this woman may be in fact more beautiful than a summer's day.