Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? is it a question?

Hey,

Last night, me and my friends were arguing whether or not we should consider 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" a question or a conditional sentence. According to him, he stated that "in the Shakespearean era, the people had a habit of saying the conditional sentences with shall." it is as if it means 'If I compare thee to a a summer's day."

On the other hand, I said it was a question; since the poet wanted to make a comparison, he had to ask first whether he compares her or not. I stated that " the tone I get and the impression I get upon reading the first line is a question in mind."

So people, what do you think?

Regards,
Amylian

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Originally Posted by Amylian

So people, what do you think?

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I think your friend is making it up as he goes along.

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Originally Posted by MarkBastable

I think your friend is making it up as he goes along.

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I know, but this is not the all of it. I mean he might have convinced me if it weren't for my obduracy. Really!

Its a him, not a her I'm afraid.

to paraphrase-

Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

er no i don't think so,the glories of summer are transient.
While your glories will live on in my poetry.

Ive recently done a paper on sonnets and we covered that one. prendrelemick is extremely correct, i am very impressed :)

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Originally Posted by Amylian

Hey,

Last night, me and my friends were arguing whether or not we should consider 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" a question or a conditional sentence. According to him, he stated that "in the Shakespearean era, the people had a habit of saying the conditional sentences with shall." it is as if it means 'If I compare thee to a a summer's day."

On the other hand, I said it was a question; since the poet wanted to make a comparison, he had to ask first whether he compares her or not. I stated that " the tone I get and the impression I get upon reading the first line is a question in mind."

So people, what do you think?

Regards,
Amylian

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I think your friend is right.

Shake-speares Sonnets 1609, sonnet 18, line 1:

Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

? at the end means question.

cheers

More a retorical question than a question to be answered by anyone but WS himself...

i agree with the above :)

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Originally Posted by Amylian

Hey,

According to him, he stated that "in the Shakespearean era, the people had a habit of saying the conditional sentences with shall."

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This, by the way, is complete crap.

What he might have been thinking about is a conditional using 'should', inverted to get rid of the 'if'. It's pretty well explained here in the fourth post down.

The essence of the thing is (and I quote the guy's post):

Certain auxiliary verbs in conditional if-clauses can be moved to the front:

(1)
a. If I were rich, I'd buy a mansion.
b. Were I rich, I'd buy a mansion.

(2)
a. If Jim had not been injured, he would have continued playing football.
b. Had Jim not been injured, he would have continued playing football.

(3)
a. If the products should be inadequate..., ...
b. Should the products be inadequate..., ...

Basically, the formula is that

if + <subject> + <auxiliary> + <verb>

becomes

<auxiliary> + <subject> + <verb>