Many artists discover their love for art and the effect it has on people at a very young age, as did Shakespeare, as his poems reflect that he may have started writing as early as the age of 18 years old. His early sonnets are immature when compared to his later ones. Shakespeare’s use of nature imagery is clearly apparent in all his sonnets, but his use of nature imagery and its quality changes drastically. As his use of nature imagery changes, the tone of the sonnets also transforms, turning from being light-hearted and beautiful to dark and somewhat grotesque. More importantly, his definition of love itself takes on a different shape, going from physical attraction to a truer love. Finally, his allusions to religion become much more specific and more directed to the person he is writing about. Clearly Shakespeare’s poetry matures with time and is reflected by his definition of love and how differently it is expressed in Sonnet XVIII compared to Sonnet CXXX. In Sonnet XVIII, Shakespeare focuses on nature imagery to describe his young love. “…Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines…” He begins by comparing the love to a summer’s day, but says she is more beautiful. He refers to summer being too short and the sun, at times, shining too brightly and making the day too hot, but other times the sun may be blocked by clouds completely. All of his references here are to cosmic entities as well as weather, referencing the warmth of the sun and the overall warm calmness that a perfect summer’s day traditionally exudes. All this imagery is quite straight-forward and almost juvenile, as comparing beauty to something that is naturally beautiful is easy, but the real challenge artists need to overcome to truly become successful, and mature