Question

“sonnet 18”
shall i compare thee to a summer’s day?
thou art more lovely and more temperate:
rough winds do shake the darling buds of may,
and summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
and often is his gold complexion dimm’d,
and every fair from fair sometime declines,
by chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d:
but thy eternal summer shall not fade,
nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
when in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
so long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
analyze the rhyme scheme in these lines from “sonnet 18.”
but thy eternal summer shall not fade,
nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
when in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
so long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
which is the correct rhyme scheme?
aabbcc
ababab
ababcc
abcabc

Explanation:

To determine the rhyme scheme, we label the end - words of each line with letters. Lines that rhyme get the same letter.

• Line 1: "fade" - let's call this "a"
• Line 2: "ow'st" - rhymes with... Wait, no, let's do it step by step for the relevant lines (the ones in the analysis part: "But thy eternal summer shall not fade," (line 1), "Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st," (line 2), "Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade," (line 3), "When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st," (line 4), "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see," (line 5), "So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." (line 6))
• Line 1: "fade" - "a"
• Line 2: "ow'st" - does it rhyme with line 1? No. Let's check the sound. "fade" (long a sound at the end) and "ow'st" (long o sound? Wait, maybe I made a mistake. Wait, let's look at the standard rhyme scheme of Shakespeare's sonnets. Wait, no, let's analyze the given lines. Wait, the lines are:

Line 1: fade (a)

Line 2: ow'st (b)

Line 3: shade (a)

Line 4: grow'st (b)

Line 5: see (c)

Line 6: thee (c)

Wait, no, let's check the rhymes again. "fade" and "shade" rhyme (both have the long a sound? Wait, "fade" is /feɪd/, "shade" is /ʃeɪd/ - yes, they rhyme. So line 1 (a), line 3 (a). "ow'st" ( /aʊst/) and "grow'st" ( /ɡroʊst/) - do they rhyme? "ow'st" and "grow'st" - the vowel sounds: "ow" in "ow'st" is /aʊ/, "ow" in "grow'st" is /oʊ/? Wait, maybe I'm overcomplicating. Wait, the standard rhyme scheme for the last six lines of a Shakespearean sonnet (the couplet is different, but here we have six lines). Wait, no, the lines given are:

1. fade

1. ow'st

1. shade

1. grow'st

1. see

1. thee

So line 1 and 3 rhyme (a), line 2 and 4 rhyme (b), line 5 and 6 rhyme (c). So the rhyme scheme is ababcc. Let's verify:

• Line 1 (fade) and Line 3 (shade) rhyme (a - a)

• Line 2 (ow'st) and Line 4 (grow'st) rhyme (b - b)

• Line 5 (see) and Line 6 (thee) rhyme (c - c)

So the rhyme scheme is ababcc.

Answer:

ababcc