Shakespeare, summer and love - how repetition works – an English tutor’s guide to writing about literature

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate"

Did you notice which word Shakespeare repeated in these two lines?

It’s the word “more”.

When writers use repetition it is usually because they want to affect us – in this example it’s because Shakespeare wants us to understand how wonderful the person is that he is writing about.

So you could write this: 

“Shakespeare repeats the word “more” to emphasise how wonderful the love of his life is.”

Notice how I put the word “more” in quotation marks to show this is Shakespeare’s word and not mine.

There are so many easy-to-learn skills to reading and writing about English literature.  As an English literature tutor I love helping people to do better in their studies, and also, I hope, to help them actually enjoy English literature too!

You can find out more about my tutoring services on my About page contact me via the contact form at the bottom of this page.