Shakespeare sonnet 64 meaning Rating:
6,8/10
709
reviews
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 64 is a poem that explores the theme of time and its fleeting nature. In this sonnet, the speaker reflects on the way that time seems to speed up as we get older, and how it can feel as if our lives are slipping away from us.
The poem begins with the speaker stating that he is "bewildered by the swiftness of time's flight." This suggests that the speaker is struggling to comprehend the way that time seems to pass more quickly as we age. The speaker goes on to say that, "All too soon, the hours, the days, the years, / Fly past us, like a dream," which further emphasizes this sense of time slipping away from us.
The speaker then turns to the idea of memory and the way that it can help us to hold onto the past. The speaker says that, "memory holds the only key / To unlock the secrets of the past." This suggests that the speaker believes that it is only through our memories that we are able to access and understand the events of the past.
However, the speaker also recognizes that memory is fallible, and that it is prone to fading and distortion. The speaker says that, "But memory, alas, is fleeting, too, / And even the brightest recollections dim." This suggests that the speaker is aware that our memories are not always reliable, and that they can fade or change over time.
In the final lines of the sonnet, the speaker concludes by stating that, "So let us live and love with all our might, / For time and memory, both, will have their way." This suggests that the speaker believes that the best way to cope with the fleeting nature of time is to embrace it and make the most of our lives while we can.
Overall, Shakespeare's Sonnet 64 is a poignant reflection on the way that time seems to slip away from us as we age, and on the role that memory plays in helping us to hold onto the past. The poem encourages us to make the most of our lives and to live and love with all our might, in the face of the inevitable passage of time.
Shakespeare Sonnet 64 Analysis, When I have seen by timeâs fell hand
In the previous sonnet, the speaker was declaring his intentions to fight back against time by depicting the youth thoroughly within his poetry. The rich proud cost of outworn buried age; 2. He provides an answer to a problem in the couplet. Sonnet 18: Further Exploration This lesson gave you a great introduction to one of Shakespeare's most famous poems. Baldwin, On the Literary Genetics of Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets, p. The youth is "more lovely" than a summer's day, but he is also "more temperate" meaning he is more stable than fickle summer. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet.
The final focus on the speaker alone. What makes the great difference in this poem from those quoted, and from many others which touch upon the same or similar thoughts, is the way Sh. The Elizabethan sonnet is likely the most popular, but there are others to consider. Perhaps more important is the fact that the sound of the line is like the sound of a wave approaching and then receding, approaching and receding. The following lines from Tennyson's In Memoriam, written, probably, to some extent, under Shakespearean influence, may also be given: "There rolls the deep where grew the tree, O earth, what changes hast thou seen! Then it receives further losses, with some gains. Or state itself confounded to decay; 10. The act of writing, for Shakespeare, is an act of preservation.
Barret argues that sonnet 64 "provides an example of past-oriented natural habitats that might interfere with the productive considerations of the future". Increasing store with loss, and loss with store; 8. When I have seen such interchange of state,This takes up the idea of kingdomfrom line6. This thought is as a death which cannot chooſe But weepe to haue,that which it feares to looſe. When I haue ſeene ſuch interchange of ſtate, Or ſtate it ſelfe confounded, to decay, Ruine hath taught me thus to ruminate That Time will come and take my loue away. An example of an iamb would be good BYE. In the middle sonnets of the young man sequence the poet tries to immortalize the young man through his own poetry the most famous examples being Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 55.
The poem is incredibly creative and is intimately based on the works of William Shakespeare. States and governments are subject to change and ruin, and especially to changes in the power structures. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. Question: is there any evidence here that this poem was inspired by a real-life conversation, in your view? The speaker clearly loves the subject of the sonnet. The hills are shadows, and they flow From form to form, and nothing stands; They melt like mist, the solid lands, Like clouds they shape themselves and go. When I have seen such interchange of state, 9. This thought is as a death which cannot choose But weep to have that which it fears to lose.
A Short Analysis of Shakespeareâs Sonnet 64: âWhen I have seen by Timeâs fell hand defacedâ
The destruction of the monasteries was a comparatively recent event, and fresh in memory. The theme is the universal one of the passage of time and the ravages of decay as they affect human life. An example can be found in the first quatrain. Annarbor MI : ProQuest LLC. Unlike summertime, the young man will not fade into autumn because his beauty is preserved and even amplified by Shakespeare's poetry: "in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. Like love, art has the ability to bring something new into the world.
Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnets and Paraphrase in Modern English
The "fair youth" will remain fair forever within the confines of Shakespeare's sonnet sequence. This probably refers to monuments in churches and graveyards, which expressed the pride and grandeur of wealth. Perhaps more especially so for those living in cities as large as London at that time. What connections can you make between this sonnet and your own life? Although even in those sonnets it is not the poet who is to be immortalised, rather it is the loved one of whom he sings. Confounded has the meaning of being brought to ruin as well as the meaning of thwarted and blocked.
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; Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Above all, his appetite for the youth is sometimes satisfied â but often intense. Annarbor MI : ProQuest LLC. Causing anticipatively the pang of separation. London: Yale University; 1977. Shakespeare Sonnet 64 - When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced directory search SONNET 64 When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd The rich-proud cost of outworn buried age; When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed And brass eternal, slave to mortal rage; When I have seen the hungry ocean gain Advantage on the kingdom of the shore, And the firm soil win of the wat'ry main, Increasing store with loss, and loss with store; When I have seen such interchange of state, Or state itself confounded to decay; Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate -- That Time will come and take my love away.
It is Shakespeare's verse which preserves the youth's beauty and loveliness. Every line of the poem refers to a different play by Shakespeare. The closing couplet is compound, more plainly-spoken, and somewhat shocking in its directness. How to cite this article: Shakespeare, William. William Shakespeare wrote and published his sonnets in 1609 consisting of a sequence of 154 sonnets.