Immortality through verse in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and Spenser's Sonnet 75 Desiring glory, fame and importance, the People have aspired for centuries to the ultimately unattainable goal of immortality. Poets, too, have expressed the desire in verse that their lovers remain as they are for eternity, in an effort to praise. Although Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and Spenser's Sonnet 75 of Amoretti both offer lovers this immortality through verse, only Spenser associates this immortality with respect and partnership, while Shakespeare promises the immortality of the sonnet's subject with unusual compliments and assurances that she will live that long. as the sonnet continues to be read. Spenser debates with his lover, treating her as his equal, and leaves his opinion open to interpretation as an example of poetic indirection. Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 begins with the "whim of an inventive mind" (Vendler, 120), a rhetorical question asking whether he should compare the subject of the sonnet to a summer's day. Once readers see that Shakespeare is not asking to compare her to anything else, we realize that this proposed comparison to a summer's day is, in his mind, perfection (Vendler, 120). However, in order to truly praise the woman, he must prove that she is "more charming and more temperate" by depreciating the metaphor (Vendler, 121). Even though the metaphor seems mild at first, the implied answer is "no" and Shakespeare goes on to explain why it is not even worthy of the best possible metaphor (Colie, 36). His images of "strong winds" and "too hot" sun as well as the personification of summer ("the summer lease has too short a date") support Shakespeare's belief that summer is too short and unpredictable to be compared.... . middle of paper ......87. 36-37. Felperin, Howard. “Towards a poststructuralist practice: the Sonnets”. Modern critical interpretations of C: Shakespeare's sonnets. Ed. Harold Bloom. 1st ed. N New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 103-131. Oram, William Allan. Edmund Spenser. Ed. Arthur Kinney. New York: Twayne, 1 1997.Ray, Robert H. “Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.” The Explainer. Fall 1994: 10-11. Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 18.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. E Ed. Mr. H. Abrams. 6th ed. New York: Norton, 1996. 471. “Sonnet 75: Critique.” EXPLORE poetry. CD-ROM. Gale, 1997. “Sonnet 75: Overview.” » EXPLORE poetry. CD-ROM. Gale, 1997. Spenser, Edmund. “Sonnet 75.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. MMH Abrams. 6th ed. New York: Norton, 1996. 415. Vendler, Helen. The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Cambridge: Harvard UP: 1998.