Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

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

–"Sonnet 18,"
William Shakespeare

How would you categorize this text?

lyrics
poetry
both

1 answer

This text would be categorized as poetry. While song lyrics can share similarities with poetry, "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare is a classical work of poetry that is structured in sonnet form.