Shakespeare Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day

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 dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest 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.

- William Shakespeare

thee	-	(forme archaïque anglaise de “toi”)
thou art	-	(forme archaïche anglaise de “tu es”)
temperate	-	modéré
rough	-	violent
bud	-	le bouton, le bourgeon
lease	-	le bail
hath	-	(forme archaïque pour la 3ème personne du singulier “has”)
eye of heaven		le soleil
complexion	-	le teint
dimmed	-	diminué
fair	-	tout ce qui est beau
to decline	-	être sur le déclin

changing course untrimmed	-	sont incontrôlable
to fade	-	se faner, s’effacer, s’estomper
ow’st = ownest	-	(forme archaïque pour la 2ème personne du singulier “own”)
wand’rest = wanderest	-	(forme archaïque pour la 2ème personne du singulier “wander) errer, se promener
in eternal lines	-	les lignes/les vers de ce poème
grow’st=growest	-	(forme archaïque pour la 2ème personne du singulier “grow”)

Learn more about the archaic English form “thou”