C). To express love by likening a loved one to a nice day.
Explanation:
The given excerpt is characterized as one of the most popular sonnet sequences of Shakespeare. Here, the speaker attempts to express his love by admiring the beauty of his beloved by comparing it to the summer season. He says that <u>the summer tends to be affected by the rough winds and unpleasant heat but his beloved's art remains mild, lovely, and temperate eternally</u>. Thus, <u>option C</u> is the correct answer where <u>the speaker prefers his beloved's beauty over a summer day as he feels that the latter would diminish but his love is eternal</u>.
