Shall I compare thee…

What does Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” mean? Until recently, that was a total mystery. But we can now tell you exactly what it means, line by line, because we have seen the light. The 2016 Mazda MX-5 light that is. With it, we chased away winter.

The following is a line-by-line analysis of the Bard’s 18^th sonnet.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

 The MX-5 looks better and is nicer to be out in.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

 But rough winds only make the MX-5 more fun to drive

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

 The lease on an MX-5 is also too short – so you should probably finance it.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

 But the roof is super easy to raise and it comes with standard air-conditioning

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

 Um… but not if the roof is down – then you get a tan

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

 Sorry, I was distracted by driving this MX-5, come again?

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

 Changing course? Love that, this car does it with pure exuberance

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

 As long as you drive an MX-5…

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

 Nor lose possession of grip unless you want to.

Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,

 Because nothing feels more alive than an MX-5

When in eternal [racing] lines to [better lap] Time thou grow’st.

 Printers left those words out in the first editions. Fools.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long live skids, and skids gives life to thee.*

*The word "skids" may not be in the original text.