Sonnet Lx Flashcards
by William Shakespeare (26 cards)
What does Shakespeare deal with in this poem, and what is the main occurring theme?
He deals with the effects of time on youth and beauty.
Theme of transience
What is the structure of the poem?
three quatrains and a rhyming couplet, using the iambic pentameter.
Q: What is the significance of the waves in the first quatrain of Sonnet 60?
A: The waves represent time and its continuous movement towards the metaphorical “pebbled shore,” symbolizing death.
How does Shakespeare use personification in Sonnet 60?
A: Shakespeare personifies time as waves and minutes, describing them with human characteristics like “toil” and “contend.”
Q: What does “the pebbled shore” metaphorically represent in Sonnet 60 in the first quatrain?
A: Death
Q: In Sonnet 60, what does Shakespeare use as a metaphor for human life?
A: The sun
Q: What does the metaphor “crooked eclipses” represent in Sonnet 60?
Old age.
Q: How does Shakespeare personify time in Sonnet 60’s third quatrain?
A: As a ravaging monster, probably the Grim Reaper.
Q: What does “delves the parallels in beauty’s brow” signify in Sonnet 60?
A: Time causing wrinkles and aging.
Q: What does the “scythe” symbolize in Sonnet 60?
A: Death’s power.
Q: What is the volta in Sonnet 60?
A: The change of thought and mood in the final rhyming couplet.
How does the poet defy time in Sonnet 60’s final couplet?
A: By stating that his verse will continue to praise the worth of the beloved despite time’s cruelty.
Q: What literary device does Shakespeare employ when he compares time to waves in Sonnet 60?
A: SIMILIE
Q: What does “sequent toil all forwards do contend” mean in Sonnet 60?
A: It means that all humans are constantly moving towards their inevitable death.
Q: How does Shakespeare use the metaphor of the sun in Sonnet 60?
A: He uses it to symbolize human life, from birth to maturity and eventual decline.
Q: What does “crooked eclipses” represent in Sonnet 60?
A: It symbolizes the effects of old age on human life.
How does Shakespeare use the concept of time in Sonnet 60 to convey the inevitability of death?
A: He personifies time as a relentless force that ravages beauty and eventually leads to death.
Q: What is the significance of the “ravaging monster” metaphor in Sonnet 60?
A: It emphasizes the destructive nature of time and its relentless pursuit of aging and death.
Q: What does “nothing stands but for his scythe to mow” suggest in Sonnet 60?
A: It suggests that everything, including beauty and life, eventually succumbs to death’s power
Q: What is the purpose of the volta in Sonnet 60?
A: It marks a shift in tone and introduces the poet’s resolution to defy time through his verse.
Q: What is the central message conveyed by Shakespeare in Sonnet 60?
.
A: Despite the inevitability of aging and death, the poet’s verse will immortalize the worth and beauty of the beloved
First Quatrain
Shakespeare’s sonnet starts with the poet comparing the passing of time to the movement of the waves: “Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore.” Human life in the same way is slowly moving towards its send, according to Shakespeare. In this simile, time is represented by waves and minutes. Here, the waves are personified since they are described with human characteristics— “toil” and “contend”. Furthermore, “the pebbled shore is a metaphor for death. As soon as they are born, all humans are heading the same way towards their death - “in sequent toil all forwards do contend”.
Second quatrain
In the second quatrain, Shakespeare uses the sun as a metaphor for human life. It is born “Nativity” and “crawls” (like a baby). Shakespeare describes Nativity as the “main of light”, which refers to an expanse of sunlight that illuminates the whole ocean. Here, the focus shifts from the passage of time to the passage of human life, using the metaphor of the sun during the span of a day: birth is seen as occurring in a sea of light, implying a solar influence, whilst then it is crowned with maturity in the sky, to be later darkened by the “crooked eclipses” of age, as time retracts his original gift..
2nd
The poet makes use of transferred epithet or hypallage, “crooked eclipses” where the epithet “crooked” should qualify an old person rather than the eclipses for effect. “Crooked eclipses”, representing old age, try to fight against death, yet all in vain. Time that gives man life “doth now his gift confound”.
