What and How - Sonnet 65

By Alastair Lagrange, Student

illustrate how time may claim us all but in art, love may still shine brightly. Shakespeare uses structure, imagery, sound effects, word choice, paradoxes, rhyme, rhythm e, imagery, sound effects, word choice, paradoxes, rhyme, rhythm and punctuation

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Sonnet 65 by Shakespeare is a strongly emotive poem that causes its' readers to contemplate the power of time and their own insignificance in relation to it. However, it also demonstrates the capacity of art to defeat transience. The purpose of Sonnet 65 is clearly to illustrate how time, the great destroyer claims us all, but 'in black inck' (art), 'love may still shine bright.' This message is clearly conveyed and developed through the careful use of poetic techniques including structure, imagery, sound effects, word choice, paradoxes, Rhyme, Rhythm and punctuation. Sonnet 65 is written in Shakespearean format. It is constructed of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The structure of the poem allows it to be presented as a sort of court case with love and beauty on the defense. The first Quatrain displays the power of time, its' ability to move mountains and change the 'boundlesse sea.' The second quatrain develops this theme and rhetorical questions such as 'O how shall summers honey breath hold out,' are used heavily to complement the message of the first. In the third quatrain readers are driven to lament and despair for the horrible result of time. These three quatrains ask the question, what hope is there against the power of time? This is then answered in the rhyming couplet. There is no answer to the ravages of time ' unlesse this miracle have might,' 'that in black inck, my love may still shine bright.' The couplet drives home the main point of the play, that love and beauty will never die as they can be reborn again and again in the form of art, or as Shakespeare so cleverly puts it 'in black inck.' Imagery is used heavily in Sonnet 65 as a powerful shaping device. It serves as a tool which brings the poem to life by creating vivid images of otherwise faceless beings, which, in Sonnet 65 are time, love and art. 'What strong hand shall hold his swift foote back' is an example of a Metaphor from Sonnet 65. It causes the reader to picture time as an athlete. A powerful, determined, swift strong one that is undiscerning of who it bowls over and crushes in its' pursuit of victory. Another metaphor is 'wrackfull siege of battring dayes.' This portrays time as a vast marauding army. Ruthless and lethal in a war against whomever it chooses to prey. 'Shall times best Jewell from times chest lie hid?' uses the term Jewell to describe a woman. This woman is a very Precious, rare, exquisite one. It also portrays time as a thief. One that steals all that is good and hordes it together into a little glory box of beautiful memories, never to be seen again. This can be liked to a serial killer that takes tokens from each of his victims. It asks the question 'where shall my love hide from the thief of time?' All of these metaphors work in conjunction to produce an image of both time and love in the readers' mind. Personification is another imagery device used in Sonnet 65. It to creates an image in the readers' mind of time and love except that this image is likened to a human aspect or trait. ' O how shall summers honey breath hold out.' Is an example of personification. It personifies summer, which is a symbol of soft loveliness (it must be remembered that this is an English summer) as a 'honey breath.' A breath is an intermittent, insignificant, it only stays for a whim of time and this is important as it displays how insignificant and weak love is in comparison to time. Time the marauding army, time the relentless athlete, time the thief steals and crushes time as easily as a breath of honey could be blown away in a puff of wind. Personification is important as it helps to enhance the poems' purpose, that nothing, not brasse, nor stone, nor boundlesse sea but love expressed in art can defeat time. Symbolism is the last aspect of imagery that Shakespeare utilizes. Symbolism uses something of usually little significance on the surface, to Sybille something else that goes a lot deeper into the meaning of the poem. This can be very useful in enhancing meaning. 'Whose action is no stronger than a flower' is symbolizing love and beauty as a flower. Flowers are typically weak and frail. This is exactly how Shakespeare is trying to portray love and beauty in his poem. How could a flower hold a defense against the power of time? This shows how vulnerable we all are, how insignificant all the things we take to be permanent are in the greater scheme of things. Symbolism is very important to the development of this theme. Shakespeare also uses a large amount of sound effects in his poem. These sound effects, including alliteration and assonance, draw attention to certain lines. This invariably enhances the message of the poem. ' 'O how shall summers honey breath hold out' is alliteration. It draws attention to the 'h' sound which creates a soft, pleasant, summery feeling which readers liken to love and beauty. It is as if summers' soft calm pleasantness can hold no defense against the wraith of time. An example of assonance is ' the wrackfull siege of battring dayes.' This repeats the 'a' sound which gives the reader a hard, harsh impression of battring time. Sound effects are a very useful tool of literature which can be used to shape meaning by drawing attention to vital points in a poem and giving them enhanced meaning by way of 'hard' or 'soft' feelings. Word choice, while it can seem insignificant is in fact of pivotal importance to the meaning that a particular piece of literature gives. It assists in the emphasis of certain lines and thus the development of themes. In Sonnet 65, the word 'sad' is used to describe mortality. This implies that to be mortal and thus affected by time is a sad thing. The word itself has a particular connotation or feel to it that another used in its' place would not. The same applies to the words 'rage' to describe the ruthlessness of time and 'plea' to describe beauties plea against it. Here, its is shown that love and beauty are so weak in comparison to time that they must 'plea', not beg or cower, but plea to the rage of time for mercy. Time however, is in such a rage that it is undiscerning as to what it destroys and thus the plea is invalid. Words such as 'O' and 'spoile' also have powerful connotations attached to them. 'O' is a phrase which is commonly associated with lament and 'fearful meditation' or evil thoughts. It is important as it almost draws out into the next word and thereby creates a feeling of lament and despair throughout the poem. 'Spoile' is a word which, like the others used, creates a feeling of dread. A different word used in its' place does not have the same feel of power in it and is thus not as appropriate. Word choice is very important in the construction of a piece of literature and the meaning its develops, Sonnet 65 is no exception. Paradoxes are also used in Sonnet 65. A Paradox holds a reader wondering about meaning and causes them to think the poem over to discover it, even much after the poem has been read. In this way, it draws attention to key phrases. ' That in black inck my love my still shine bright.' Is the last line of the poem and is the miracle that Shakespeare suggests may be able to defeat time. The juxta-positioning of two opposites, 'black inck' and 'shine' in the same sentence provides a strong paradox. It draws the readers' attention to 'black inck.' The recognition that this means art and literature is of paramount importance to the development of the poems' theme. This term may otherwise have been overlooked, but, instead it is dwelled upon and the development of the poems' purpose is enhanced by it. In this way, paradoxes are very important to the development of Sonnet 65's theme. Tone can be very important to a poem. It can cause a reader to read a piece of literature in different ways and thus derive different meanings from it. Sonnet 65 is written in two distinctly different tones. The quatrains in the poem are all written in a melancholy tone which complements and then laments the tremendous power of time. The rhyming couplet at the end is written with hope. The two lines resound with a feeling of hope brought about by the suggestion of a way to defeat time with the use of art and love combined. If the poem were written differently, for example, if the quatrains were written in a worshiping tone, thus praising time and the rhyming couplet was written in a sorrowful tone, then the readers would derive an entirely different meaning from the poem. It is in this way that tone is so important to the development of themes in Sonnet 65. The rhyme used in a poem can change the way it is read by enhancing the noticeability of certain words. It also ties a poem together, making it flow and not seem 'stuck together.' In Sonnet 65, being of Shakespearean format, the rhyme scheme 'abab cdcd efef gg' is used. This pattern rhymes the last word of each line with another one either one line before or after it. These words, if read separately, can actually give the reader an impression of what the poem is about without it being read in full. Because of this, their emphasis is a major player in the development of themes. The rhyme in Sonnet 65 does just that and is important to the development of the theme that time, the great destroyer may claim us all but love and beauty may survive in the arts. The rhythm used in Sonnet 65 is iambic Pentameter. This consists of a non-stress followed by a stress (ie: u/ u/ u/ etc). It serves the same purpose as rhyme; places emphasis on certain words and ties the poem together. An example of this is 'since brasse, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundlesse sea.' This progresses from 'everyday forevers' such as brass statues and stone buildings and ends in vast monoliths of time beyond our comprehension. The rhythm pattern, as it is repetitive, links this sentence together and gives it a sort of suspense so that when the reader gets to the last word, the line reaches a climax. This suspense is then rebuilt in the next line and so on. The ability of rhythm to tie a poem together and place emphasis on particular words makes it a useful poetic technique for shaping meaning. Punctuation is very important to the poem, it to draws attention to certain words and phrases through the use of pausing, including full stops and commas. The pause at the end of each line and at the beginning of each subsequent one allows the reader time to examine and grasp the meaning of the previous line and ready himself for the next. An example of this is on the third line when the question where 'shall times best Jewell from times chest lie hid?' This pause to allow meaning to 'soak in' is of critical importance, especially in the second and third qautrains where rhetorical questions are being used heavily and Shakespeare is questioning the power of time, beauty and love. In conclusion, Sonnet 65 is powerful poem that, through various poetic techniques clearly illustrates how time, the great destroyer claims us all, but 'in black inck' (art), 'love may still shine bright.' These techniques include structure, imagery, sound effects, word choice, paradoxes, rhyme, rhythm and punctuation. The structure of the poem allows it to be presented as a sort of court case with love and beauty on the defense. Imagery serves as a tool which brings the poem to life by creating vivid images of otherwise faceless beings in the readers mind. Sound effects, including alliteration and assonance, draw attention to certain lines. Word choice is of pivotal importance to the meaning that a particular piece of literature gives. It assists in the emphasis of certain lines and thus the development of themes. Paradoxes hold a reader wondering about meaning and causes them to think the poem over to discover it. The contrasting tones in Sonnet 65 cause the readers to derive a different meaning from it. The rhyme, rhythm and punctuation all serve almost the same purpose, to cause the poem to be read differently and thus different meanings to be developed by it. All of these techniques help convey and develop meaning within Sonnet 65.