The Shakespearean Sonnet

The fact that Shakespeare is creating a metaphor for the progress of life is apparent in the opening line in which such a metaphor is made explicit in the image of the waves lapping on the shore:

Like as the waves make towards the pibbled shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end (1-2).

The poet makes a direct comparison between human life and the waves on the shore. The ocean is often used as a metaphor for life, as in "the sea of life," and here one aspect of the movement of the ocean is selected for what it says about the progress of human life. The ocean has a sense of unchangeability in such a poem, and the lapping waves will be continuing their action long after the human being contemplating them is gone.

The image is complex. The wave makes its way to the shore in the same way "our minutes hasten to their end." The pebbles on the shore are pushed along by the waves, and the pebbles become concrete examples of our minutes,

Each changing place with that which goes before,

In sequent toil all forwards to contend (3-4).

Time only runs in one direction, and each minute is supplanted by

. . .
re is a similar link between "gave" and "gift" in the last line, and these words are also linked in having a common etymological origin. The personification of time is indicated by the fact that it is capitalized and that it is given actions it performs--it "gives" and it "confounds." The word stands out as it is capitalized, and indeed the poem is largely about Time and how it acts upon human beings. In the third stanza, the personification of Time is continued as Time is depicted as all-encompassing and all-powerful. The poet here continues his thought and carries the ravages of time to the end of life. Time is depicted now as wielding a scythe and mowing down everyone and everything. Nothing withstands or escapes the passage of Time, and Time takes action rather than being a passive thing that passes. it is more like the waves breaking on the shore than it is sand slipping away in an hourglass--Time has power and uses that power. Human beings cannot stand against that power no matter how much they try. They may attempt to retain youth and to keep beauty young and fresh, but it will be to no avail: Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth And delves the parallels in beauty's brow (9-10). The alliteration in
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
EFEF GG, Shakespeare's Sonnet, , scythe mowing, waves shore, human life, reader birth age, shore minutes hasten, 'gainst glory fight, crawls maturity, poem written, main light, 'gainst glory, birth age, reader birth, life cycle,
Approximate Word count = 1677
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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