Critically analyse Shakespeare Sonnet 55 ( “Notmarble, nor the gilded monuments” ).

Critically analyse Shakespeare Sonnet 55 ( “Notmarble, nor the gilded monuments” ).

The sonnet Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monument by William Shakespeare opens eyes to a great truth of life that nothing in life is permanent except the immortality that one can achieve through literature. Shakespeare uniquely thinks poetry as a tool to immortalize his friend. He is not concerned with his own glory. The Roman poets say: “Because of my poems I will never die”. But Shakespeare says: “Because of my poems you will never die”. What distinguishes Shakespeare is that he values the identity of his friend and wants to immortalize him through his verses. In Sonnet 55, we find an impassioned burst of confidence as the poet claims to have the power to keep his friend’s memory alive forever. Shakespeare intends to immortalize his friend through his poetry. At the very beginning he expressed his firm belief that nothing shall outlive his 'powerful verses'. He says:

"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhymes. "

For him, poetry will last longer than the great monuments which were built to immortalize the great kings and princes.  Shakespeare says that the memory of his friend will be immortalized through his poetry because time will not affect it and it will outlive everything as time can affect only the material things like the marbles and monuments. It can't affect poetry because poetry is kept in books and the minds of the people. Shakespeare boldly claims that the memory of his friend that he recorded in his 'powerful rhymes' will never be burnt/erased by any natural or man-made phenomena.  He says:

"Not mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burnThe living record of your memory." 

He says that everything will be ruined- like the monuments will be besmeared by time, the statues and masonry will be destroyed by wars or civil disturbance- but his friend will remain alive through his poems. He claims that even the sword of the Mars (Roman god of war) and fire of war cannot erase the 'living record ' of his friend's memory. Also his friend's memory will not be affected by the oblivion that comes with enmity and death, will last and find room in the minds of coming generations................................................................................................................................................

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Milan Tomic

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