Sentence 3 in Sonnet 18
This is a sentence in Middle English from Sonnet 18. It is composed of 18 words.
Rough windes do shake the darling buds of Maie, and Sommers lease hath all too short a date:
rough
Rough - adjective
windes
do
do - auxiliary
shake
shake - verb
the
the - determiner
darling
darling - noun
buds
buds - noun
bud
of
of - adposition
Maie
May - proper noun
,
and
and - coordinating conjunction
Sommers
summer's - noun
sommer
lease
lease - noun
all
all - adverb
too
too - adverb
short
short - adjective
a
a - determiner
date
date - noun
:
English translation
Rough winds shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s time is all too brief.
Description
Analysis of the phrase in context.
In this line, Shakespeare reflects on the imperfections of a summer day. The rough winds" that disturb the "darling buds of May" symbolize nature’s tendency to disrupt and transform even the most delicate beauty
Word sources
A quick overview of the meaning of each word and its etymology.
| rough | rough | ||
| windes | winde | Alternative form of wynd | |
| do | do | ||
| shake | shake | ||
| the | the | Alternative form of þe | |
| darling | darling | ||
| buds | bud | ||
| of | of | of | From Old English of, from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away; away from”). |
| Maie | Maie | ||
| and | and | and | From Old English and, ond, end, from Proto-West Germanic *andi, from Proto-Germanic *andi, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti. |
| Sommers | sommer | ||
| lease | lease | Alternative form of les | |
| hath | haven | to own : | From Old English habban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną. |
| all | all | all (entirely | From Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz. |
| too | too | ||
| short | short | Alternative form of schort | |
| a | a | Alternative form of an | |
| date | date |