Question

sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
and often is his gold complexion dimmd,
and every fair from fair sometime declines,
by chance, or natures changing course untrimmd
--\sonnet 18,\
william shakespeare

read the second quatrain of the sonnet, and then answer the questions.

what is the best paraphrase of the first two lines?
the sun is sometimes too hot or dim.

what is the best paraphrase of the last two lines?
it is not fair that you do not love me.
beauty eventually fades.
nature is violent and unpredictable

Explanation:

For the first question (paraphrase of first two lines):

The first two lines "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd" use "eye of heaven" as a metaphor for the sun. So rephrasing, the sun (eye of heaven) is sometimes too hot (shines too hot) or dim (gold complexion dimm'd).

The last two lines "And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd" mean that every beautiful thing (fair) will lose its beauty (declines) at some point, either by chance or due to nature's changing. So "Beauty eventually fades" captures this. The other options: "It is not fair that you do not love me" misinterprets "fair", and "Nature is violent and unpredictable" misrepresents the line's focus on beauty's decline, not nature's violence.

Answer:

The sun is sometimes too hot or dim.

For the second question (paraphrase of last two lines):