FREE ESSAY ON SONNET 64

SONNET 64

Derived from the early Petrarchan form, William Shakespeare's sonnets maintain an iambic
pentameter however implore an uncharacteristic rhyme scheme and have a final couplet with
such strength that the whole character of the form is changed creating a clear thought
division between the twelfth and thirteenth line. Shakespeare's style unique sonnet style
became, in his time, the predominate English form. However, some poems such as John
Keats' On First Looking into Chapman's Homer retained the classic Italian form.(Crowell
pg 945) Shakespeare's Sonnet Sixty-Fourhold's true to the classic Shakespearean sonnet
form, having three quatrains and a finalizing couplet. Utilizing the techniques
personification, chiasmus, and enjambement, Shakespeare reveals that time, destroying all
tangible seemingly indestructible creations, will ultimately take love away.
To reveal the passage of time Shakespeare divides his sonnet into three quatrains with
each quatrain creating a specific thought. The opening quatrain begins with the forceful
image of the personification of time, with the use of a capital; Time. Like one's hand,
time is capable of destroying the seemingly indestructible lofty towers and brass. Man is
an eternal slave to time. In these opening lines Shakespeare is revealing that our
ambitions drive the building of higher towers and stronger brass, however, even as we
strive to create monuments of greater magnitude and fortitude, time will always be the
victor and man's empires will be down-razed. Shakespeare quickly humbles the reader with
powerful destructive words, buried; defaced; down-razed and, consequently, one realizes
that one day our present creations will stand no more and what stands in their place will
only be dictated by time's hand. 
The second quatrain maintains the image of time's destructive powers. With the rhyme
scheme cdcd and the rhythmic advances of enjambement  . . . Seen the hungry ocean gain
advantage on the kingdom of the shore,  Shakespeare is able to create a sense of the back
and forth cyclic motion of the ocean. Describing the battle between the ocean, watery
main, and the firm soil Shakespeare shows that nature is also influenced and changed by
Time's feel hand. As man's monuments fall, time changes our natural world as well,
creating a broad and rich geologic history. With chiasmus in this quatrain Shakespeare
finalizes and supports the powerful image of the endless cycle of the ocean and the
unstoppable force of time as it destroys our lands and dictates our future. ...store with
loss and loss with store.
The final quatrain deals with the impact of time in a social setting. Shakespeare
illustrates how time can destroy kingdoms, rulers and dynasties, ultimately causing the
interchange of state with the state itself, eventually being subject to decay. The use of
decay incorporates natural elements into the ideology of time's eternal forces creating a
direct link with the second quatrain.
The ideas revealed in the final and preceding quatrains allow Shakespeare to ruminate and
finalize his conclusions about time. The first person style, I have seen and the natural
progression of related ideas about time in the three quatrains allows the reader to view
the poem as a meditation. Therefore the poem, in a sense, is Shakespeare's thought
progression. At the closing of the final quatrain his realization about the impacts of
time is clear; time has caused ruin of the physical world and has a power beyond
comprehension and, with this ultimate power, time will eventually take his love away. His
finalizing line of the third quatrain, That time will come and take my love away,
provokes thought not only in the poet but, as well, in the reader. Does time really take
love away? How does time dictate our lives? This provocation of thought leads naturally
to the couplet where the thought is concluded.
The couplet in Sonnet Sixty-Four delves into the universal element of man's mortality. As
Shakespeare reveals death is inevitable and with its coming brings the loss of his love.
Death is a fact which one cannot choose. The death of loved ones, for Shakespeare, is a
subject which he fears and an idea which causes him sadness; weep to have. Shakespeare
reveals that time will topple buildings and weather mountains but the ultimate sacrifice
to time, is life.
Shakespeare's language: ruin, defaced, eternal slave, decay suggests a conflict between
humanity and time. It seems as though Shakespeare almost blames time for being the
eventual vehicle that takes his love away. However, Shakespeare is forgetting an integral
aspect of time. Without time Shakespeare would have no love, nor would our society grow
and manifest great structural monuments. Similar to sonnet Sixty-Four, Dylan Thomas's
Fern Hill deals with a personified, time, however illustrates the gifts of time as well
as its restrictions. Thomas acknowledges Time's control over our lives, Time held me
green and dying, though I sang in my chains like the sea.(Thomas line 53) Like the sea
Thomas doesn't mind undergoing store with loss and loss with store and being part of the
continuous cycle of life. He sings in the face of Time. Thomas acknowledges time's chains
however he also realizes as time takes life away it also allows for life to begin. Time
let me play and be in the golden mercy of his means.(Thomas Line 13) Shakespeare weeps at
the fear of losing love where if he thought logically he would realize that time will
take his love away and instead of wasting the precious time of life weeping with fear he
should relish the gift of time in which he is able to spend with his love. As Thomas
reveals Time allows in all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs.....(Thomas
line 43) Death is inevitable so one must cherish one's very short life. 
Sonnet Sixty -four, however, does provoke strong emotion on the vastness, and greatness
of time as a catalyst for our current lifestyle. The power of time is beyond the furthest
reaches of our mind. Shakespeare's use of personification brings time to a mortal level,
a level which we can comprehend. The personified Time is given more life with the use of
enjambement and chiasmus. These techniques give one a richly painted picture of the
mechanics of time and its dynamic effect on our society, past and present. We then are
able to ruminate, as Shakespeare did, and create our own conclusions about time and its
universal impacts. Shakespeare's ultimate purpose in Sonnet Sixty Four is to paint this
vivid picture of the impact of time, then allowing the reader to then create his or her
own couplet or conclusive thought. Sonnet sixty four allowed me to realize that time is
something to be valued and that it has an awesome power which should be respected, for in
an instant it can take love away, however ultimately we as humans must learn to strive,
to seek, to find, and not to yield.(Tennyson line 75)
Bibliography
Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Sonnets. London press: 1964 
Tennyson. Ulysses. 1842
Thomas. Fern Hill: Http://www.tdesign.com/mulder/fernhill.html 
Crowell & Co. A Reader's Encyclopedia. NY:1965.