Shakespeare’s sonnets treat time as an enemy of mankind. In many of the sonnets, the speaker worries about the ravages of time and expresses disgust at the way time takes away the things that human beings cherish. In the first seventeen sonnets, for example, the speaker juxtaposes time and beauty. As the speaker praises the youthful vitality of the young man (described in the sonnets), he also conveys his worries about ravages of time. The speaker’s concerns arise from past experiences. Nevertheless, the speaker devises several means to reduce the harmful effects of time on the young man. For instance, he immortalizes the young man through his poems and remains upbeat that the young man will marry a wife to continue his lineage, thus beating the ravages of time. However, the speaker realizes the futility of this attempt at some point and resigns to the fact that the clock cannot be turned back. Shakespeare’s sonnets reveal a preoccupation with time and everything that it entails; the speaker battles to gain control over time, but soon realizes that this is a futile exercise.
Shakespeare gives various descriptions that demean time. For example in sonnet 16, Shakespeare describes time as a “blood tyrant.” The image created here is that time is a ruthless, and has little regard for humanity. This is the same picture that the speaker portrays in other sonnets as well, and legitimizes attempts by the speaker to gain control over time. The mockery of time continues further in sonnet 19, where Shakespeare likens time to the “devouring” lion, and in sonnet 60, where Shakespeare uses imagery to compare time to the waves that blow the ocean shore. All these negative descriptions of time arise from the fear that the young man (to whom the poem is dedicated) will be robbed of his beauty.
In the first seventeen sonnets, Shakespeare paints a picture of the ravages of time. For example, he pleads with the young man to find a wife to marry so that his lineage would be continued. This is one of the means that the speaker suggests to the young man to enable him conquer time, because death does not mean loss of life as long as someone has procreated. In sonnet 2, Shakespeare paints a picture of time ravaging the young man’s good looks. He says “When forty winters shall besiege thy brow and dig trenches –wrinkles- in his face” (1). In this quote, it is clear that the speaker worries about what time will do the young man’s youthful looks. The same image comes out in sonnet 5, where the speaker says that hours are tyrants that oppress him. He says “Those hours, that with gentle work did frame, the lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell, will play the tyrants to the very same” (2).
The destructive nature of time also comes out in sonnet 18 and 19. In these sonnets, the speaker reveals the inevitable mortality of beauty. In sonnet 19, for example, the speaker uses imagery to show time devours the earth. However, in the same sonnets, the speaker remains confident that, through his poems, the young man will remain young forever. “Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong, my love shall in my verse ever live young” (13). In this statement, although the speaker is aware of the inevitable mortality of beauty, he still remains keen on immortalizing the young man’s youthful vibrancy through his poems.
Another aspect of time comes out in sonnet 60 where the speaker symbolizes time with concrete images. He says “Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend” (2). In this quote, the speaker compares time to waves. The speaker alludes that time acts in the same manner as the destructive waves that hit the shores every now and then. However, the optimistic tone changes in sonnets 64 and 65 where the speaker appears resigned to the ravages of time.
In sonnet 64, for example, the speaker resigns to the fact that he can do nothing to stop the ravages of time. He therefore comforts himself by narrating how ancient glories collapsed with time. The speaker says “When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced the rich proud cost of outworn buried age; When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed and brass eternal slave to mortal rage” (1). In this statement, the speaker appears to have lost the motivation to fight against the ravages of time, and resigned to the fate of time. The depressing tone in this sonnet is a contradiction of the previous sonnets in which the speaker had expressed a lot of confidence in maintaining the versatile nature of youth. It also reveals the speaker’s anxiety as he nears old age. The same picture also comes out in sonnet 65, where the speaker says that nothing withstands the ravages of time. He says “Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea bur sad mortality o’er-sways their power” (1). This is the stark reality that the speaker faces, and has now power over it.
The message that Shakespeare conveys in his sonnets is that time reverses the gains that human beings make in life. For example, time reverses the vibrancy of youth (as one ages), and replaces it with an ugly appearance that does not inspire confidence. In order to counteract these ravages of time, Shakespeare advises people to marry so that they would preserve their lineage, thus remaining youthful. However, as much as Shakespeare attempts to gain control over time, he soon realizes that there is not much human beings can do about it, and resigns to the ravages of time.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 2. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000.
Web. 23 September 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.shakespeare- online.com/sonnets/2.html >.
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 5. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000.
Web. 23 September 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.shakespeare
online.com/sonnets/5.html >
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 19. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug.
2000. Web. 23 September 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.shakespeare
online.com/sonnets/19.html >
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 60. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug.
2000. Web. 23 September 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.shakespeare
online.com/sonnets/60.html >
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 64. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug.
2000. Web. 23 September 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.shakespeare
online.com/sonnets/64.html >
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 65. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug.
2000. Web. 23 September 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.shakespeare
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