Shakespeare, Sonnet 55 (Lizzie Britner)
Although this is one of
Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, it stands out because of its differences in
tone and beliefs about lasting love. Rather then seeming doubtful or insecure
about the complex and unforeseen outcomes of love, Sonnet 55 has a much more
confident and determined feel to it. Similar to the other Shakespearean sonnets
we have read so far, this one takes the usual form of twelve lines made up of
three quatrains, followed by the final couplet.
In first quatrain, the sonnet argues that even the most
grand and magnificent monuments of royalty could not outlive the power of
poetry. Therefore, the intense passion the speaker feels for his lover will
“shine more bright” in these verses then it could in a statue, or gravestone
(3). The second quatrain elaborates on this idea by explaining that material
things, such as sculptures or tombstones can all be destroyed by humans and the
effects of time. For example, the poet remarks on the fact that things such as
war and fire can ruin the memorials that lovers leave behind. But because this
poem is a living memory, it cannot be ruined by earthly forces. Moving on to
the third quatrain, the focus shifts to the idea that the lover themselves will
live on because of this poem. Although time usually leads people to be
forgotten, the speaker assures his lover that they will be not be abandoned.
Even until the end of humanity, the memory of his lover will never be
suppressed. The final couple reiterates that until Judgement Day, when the
lover will rise again, they will live immortalized in this poem and in the eyes
of all who loved them. And since we are still reading this sonnet hundreds of
years later, the speaker seems to have been correct.
One of the aspects of Sonnet 55 that I found interesting
was Shakespeare’s unselfish way of using his poem to immortalize his lover
rather than himself. Most poets of this time, and even a majority of writers
today, see their work as a way of commemorating themselves rather than someone
else. Sonnet 55 never mentions what will become of the poet himself, but
instead solely focuses on the memorialization of his lover. This selfless and
noble act seems to take Shakespeare’s already complex and arguably unattainable
notion of love to an even higher standard.
The
picture I decided to include is a statue by William Ordway Partridge of William
Shakespeare that can be found in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The statue
was installed in 1894 and is inscribed with some of Shakespeare’s verses from Hamlet. I choose this picture because I
thought it was a little ironic since Sonnet 55 argues against the memorials of
statues, yet there are statues of Shakespeare found all over the world.
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