EN108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: To Autumn, Summum Bonum, Deixis
Document Summary
Opening question is quite striking in this regard bc the speaker wants to impress the subject. Helen vendler says that the summer"s day is the summum bonum" (the highest good), selected this because it is the distillation of everything that is good in the world. Lover is more lovely and more temperate : maybe the lover is the summum bonum. For someone to be more temperate, not quite as extreme in his or her nature as is the summer day. The summer that is presented to us next is different. Summer does not stick around long enough. Lover who is more temperate might be preferable to a hot and brutal day. Not only that but often the sun doesn"t even shine (cloudy) And every fair from fair sometimes declines. This line suggests that if youre comparing the lover to a summer"s day, it is problematic.
