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Jeanne Dininni
Shilpa KarhikSonnet 55
April 28th 2006 09:35
Sonnet 55
by William Shakespeare
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes.
Many of Shakespeare's sonnets are about the destructiveness of Time and the impermanence of youth and beauty. This one differs from most on this theme because rather than being melancholic and hopeless, it's full of confidence that with poetry he can immortalise the young man he loves by preserving his memory. The sonnet has been criticised for being too forcedly bold and overconfident, which is out of character after the sonnets preceding this one, but the fact that we're reading it today proves that Shakespeare's grand claims were justified!
by William Shakespeare
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes.
Many of Shakespeare's sonnets are about the destructiveness of Time and the impermanence of youth and beauty. This one differs from most on this theme because rather than being melancholic and hopeless, it's full of confidence that with poetry he can immortalise the young man he loves by preserving his memory. The sonnet has been criticised for being too forcedly bold and overconfident, which is out of character after the sonnets preceding this one, but the fact that we're reading it today proves that Shakespeare's grand claims were justified!
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