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a short note on the theme of time and love of shakespearen sonnet
age and youth by william shakespeare summary
a short note on the theme of time and love of shakespearen sonnet
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In his Sonnets, Shakespeare explores the nature of time and different methods of overcoming the erasure that time causes. He identifies procreation through both reproduction and publication as the most successful agents for preservation. Shakespeare wastes no time revealing his preoccupation with the passing of time and its potential to erase both a person’s beauty and his or her legacy. Starting with Sonnet 1, he states his purpose in finding a way to combat time so “that thereby beauty’s rose might never die” (1). He wishes to overcome the mortality of the human condition by preserving beauty and memory. This desire to immortalize his subjects pervades the Sonnets as he engages in a verbal battle against time by using his artillery of words as a means of disrupting time’s never-ending cycle. As the Sonnets progress, Shakespeare’s attitude toward time matures but only after he has discovered an effective and reliable mean of countering time’s erasure: his verse. He takes the endurance of his and his Golden Youth’s legacy into his own hands, literally, as he brings his quill to scroll and records his memories through the lasting medium of the written word. In this essay I will argue that Shakespeare uses his Sonnets as a means of preserving the legacy of his beloved Golden Youth, and, on a broader scale, erects poetic monuments that will endure time’s erasure and preserve their subject’s legacy for all of time. In her book Death, Burial, and the Individual in Early Modern England, Clare Gittings observes that, “it has often been suggested that people of the late Middle Ages seem to have been obsessed with death” (34). Gittings notes that, unlike today when people easily cast death’s threat aside, it would have been impos... ... middle of paper ... ...nd order beyond change” (236). Once Shakespeare outwits time and gains confidence in his verse as a means of preservation, his relationship with time changes. Instead of battling with time, Shakespeare and time become equals. Shakespeare effectively, “reduce[s] the negative form of time and the domain it governs to trivial proportions, and replace[s] it with another, positive conception of time which is squarely centered in the poet’s personal experience and intimately associated with his achieved sense of stability” (Kaula 57). In addition, “he sees the old enemy, cosmic time, in a different light. Instead of lamenting the impermanence of earthly things, he regards time with an equanimity that verges on satirical contempt, even when he observes its effects on the friend” (56). Shakespeare wants his Sonnets to act as “The living record of your memory” (45 8).
This investigation will analyse responses to death in medieval religious culture. Relationships with death arguably varied between social classes, making it difficult to assert a generalised response to death. Death was commonplace amongst peasants and therefore few sources document it. Responses to death can be inferred by sermons, which were influential to the beliefs of lower classes. The nobility on the other hand, provided accounts of deaths and from these sources responses can be asserted. Similarly, it is difficult to assert a general definition of death as in the medieval period the concept of death was multidimensional. Death was both physical and spiritual to medieval religious culture. Additionally, medieval religious culture was diverse. This investigation will approach these problems by utilising specific religious sources, for both lower and upper classes and analysing their content to decipher whether responses to death were characterised by fear.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 15 explores the possibility of preserving a man through verse, employing a gardening metaphor to explain the process of doing so. Throughout the sonnet, men are likened to plants in their manner of growing, exhibiting beauty, as well as by their impermanence. The comparison between men and plants culminates in the final line of the poem in which the speaker promises to “ingraft [the man] new” (14), presumably through verse. “Ingrafting” in this instance suggests both the act of writing as well as a horticultural process practiced by cultivators of plants. Because writing and the grafting of plants ultimately produce strikingly different results, the poet introduces a dichotomous conception of what exactly he intends for the subject of his sonnet. As a gardener to his plants, the poet may mean to “ingraft” the man with the sonnet such that he is infused with new life and thus “blooms,” or returns to a state of heightened beauty. Alternatively the poet “ingrafts” by writing about or “engraving” the man into verse, thus crafting a permanent and unchanging representation of his much admired graces. The practices of the gardener who causes flowers to bloom and plants to produce fruit may appear to produce an object of greater vitality than those of the poet who “ingrafts” by setting words upon a page. However, if the poet strives for similar results in his craft as the gardener, it is possible that with verse, the subject of poem may be given new energy and life, much like a plant that has been grafted. The final image of Sonnet 15 taken in conjunction with lines from Balthdassar Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier perhaps suggests that by the writer’s process of creating eternal and apparently lifeless represe...
A sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines, following one of several set of rhyme-schemes. Critics of the sonnet have recognized varying classifications, but the two characteristic sonnet types are the Italian type (Petrarchan) and the English type (Shakespearean). Shakespeare is still nowadays seen as in idol in English literature. No one can read one of his works and be left indifferent. His way of writing is truly fascinating. His sonnets, which are his most popular work, reflect several strong themes. Several arguments attempt to find the full content of those themes.
Literature is an art form, it is entertainment, history, and a medium of self-expression. There is something magical about the creative power that is within literature. With words alone, literature illustrates the rise of nations, the fall of tyranny, the power of true love, and the tragedy of unescapable fate. When discussing timeless literature, it is almost impossible to not bring up the works of William Shakespeare. However, while some are enthusiastic about discussing Shakespeare, many can’t help but sigh. Some find his work outdated, his language cumbersome, and question: for what purpose is society so fixated on his work? Despite complaints from a few contemporary readers, Shakespeare’s work exhibits quality and thoughtfulness that is
William Shakespeare was an excellent writer, who throughout his life created well written pieces of literatures which are valued and learned about in modern times. One of his many works are 154 Sonnets, within these Sonnets there are several people Shakespeare “writes to”, such as fair youth, dark lady and rival poet. Sonnet 20 is written to fair youth, or in other words a young man. The idea of homosexuality appears in Sonnet 20 after the speaker admits his love towards the young man.
“Sonnet 73,” published by William Shakespeare in 1609, reveals through symbolic imagery and metaphors mans promised fate, death. The theme of “Sonnet 73” is that, as life draws to an end, it becomes more valued. In a melancholy mood, the narrator concedes that many years have passed by and that the end of his life draws ever near. He reflects through imagery, and with a sense of self-pity, the loss of his youth and passion to the ravages of time. In this essay I will detail the use of symbolic imagery and metaphors in “Sonnet 73” and how it portrays the author’s experience of aging.
For centuries people have desired to transcend the limits of a temporary life, yearning for the ultimately unattainable goal of immortality. Poets have also expressed in their works the desire to remain as they are with their beloved despite time and death. Although William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” and Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” from Amoretti both offer immortality through verse, only Spenser combines this immortality with respect and partnership, while Shakespeare promises himself immortality as long as the sonnet continues to be read. Spenser debates with his lover, treating her as his equal as Shakespeare takes an egotistical approach to the topic and praises himself. However, both Shakespeare and Spenser treat the subject in an original and individual manner. Spenser starts from an average situation and uses dialogue to convey the main idea. Shakespeare addresses the reader with a monologue. Both William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” and Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” present the idea of the ability of poetry to immortalize and allow one to outlast time and death.
Shakespeare's sonnets are a romantic and charming series of poems. His use of rhyme and passionate, eloquent language serve to illuminate his strong feelings. These techniques were probably the most fluent way for such a writer as him to express the immeasurable love that he obviously felt for his mysterious lady. Examining the numerous ways Shakespeare found to describe it, the reader believes that this love was undoubtedly lasting and authentic. He often made heart-felt comments about his emotions that could also suit lovers in the present day. Because of this, and the fact that people read them yet, Shakespeare's sonnets are timeless and universal, just like the concept of love itself.
As each day goes by the beauty of our vibrant youth decays and diminishes. In "Sonnet 15" Shakespeare refers to youth as life at its peak, however this precious point in our life is short-lived. Shakespeare speaks of youth as a single moment of perfection. He glorifies youth and alleges to immortalize it through his poetic words. He uses metaphors, imagery, and rhyme in a way to enhance the beauty and perfection of mans youth while in its prime. Through this he demonstrate the love and richness of youth despite the tole time takes on it.
William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 continues the theme of the previous sonnet, Sonnet 29, with its memories of youth. It is believed to be one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. It is believed that the sonnets were written about the convincing of a young man, with whom the poet seemed to have a romantic interest in (sonnets 1-126). The finale sonnets (127-154) are addressed to a women known as the dark lady. Sonnet 30 is written in relation to Sonnet 29’s theme, that memories of the youth are precious. (Mabillard, A., 2000) During the 16th and 17th century, the time of the Renaissance where there was a rebirth of art and literature, and Shakespeare was one of its most celebrated poet and playwright. However, the 17th century was also a time when the Plague and the Civil War in England took many lives. People during Shakespearean times were used to death and loss.
William Shakespeare's sonnet cycle is famous with its rich metaphorical style. The depth of each sonnet comes from its multilayered meanings and images, which are reinforced by its structure, sound, and rhythm. Sonnet #73 provides an excellent example. This sonnet shows the speaker's agony over human mortality and, moreover, his/her way of coping with it in an effective way. The speaker, especially in terms of his cognizance of time, experiences dramatic changes in two ways: (1) from time measured by quantity to time as quality, (2) from cyclical time to a linear one. These changes, manifested by a set of images (autumn, twilight, glowing), enable him/her to embrace his/her mortality as an essential element of a human being. This double structure of the sonnet achieves its richness by its sub-level imagery based on eroticism, which has been one of the most common cures for the inevitability of one's own death throughout human history.
William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” is chiefly concerned with the human desire to be remembered and immortalized in an attempt to defeat time. The poem suggests a strong awareness of the inevitability of death using images of the decay that accompanies time and emphasizing the destructive results of “wasteful war” (5). Traditionally, the octave presents the problem, which in this case is temporary life, and the sestet provides the solution to the dilemma of a fleeting existence. In the first eight lines of the poem, the speaking persona discusses the different forms of destruction likely to befall any physical attempt to ...
During the Renaissance period, most poets were writing love poems about their lovers/mistresses. The poets of this time often compared love to high, unrealistic, and unattainable beauty. Shakespeare, in his sonnet 18, continues the tradition of his time by comparing the speakers' love/mistress to the summer time of the year. It is during this time of the year that the flowers and the nature that surround them are at there peak for beauty. The theme of the poem is to show the speakers true interpretation of beauty. Beauties worst enemy is time and although beauty might fade it can still live on through a person's memory or words of a poem. The speaker realizes that beauty, like the subject of the poem, will remain perfect not in the eyes of the beholder but the eyes of those who read the poem. The idea of beauty living through the words of a poem is tactfully reinforced throughout the poem using linking devices such as similes and metaphors.
William Shakespeare’s life has brought much curiosity to many. This is natural as he is considered to be the greatest figure of English Literature. William Shakespeare, in terms of his life and work, is the most written-about author in the history of Western civilization. His works include 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 epic narrative poems, the First of which was published after his death in 1623 by two of Shakespeare's acting companions, John Heminges and Henry Condell. Since then, the works of Shakespeare have been studied, analyzed, and enjoyed as some of the finest work of art in the English language.