Done by: L. Nazirova Group: 211 Denou- 2023 Content

Chapter II. Shakespear is admitted as the best writer by whole world
II.2 Conclusion on chapter

Summary
Shakespeare’s 55^th sonnet deals with the unique theme of immortality through verse. In this sonnet, the bard talks about the futility of worldly glory and material attempts at immortalization. He refers to princes, great rulers, and the rich who have sought to immortalize themselves or what they love through monuments, statues, and memorials. He believes ‘not marble nor the gilded monuments’ can stand the ravages of time. If there is anything that can immortalize a person, a memory, or an object of love, it is poetry. Read on to know the Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments Summary
According to the poet, be it grand monuments or great statues, all will be destroyed by time. Built around Horace’s idea of poetry outliving physical monuments, Shakespeare wishes to erect an everlasting monument for his beloved, in other words, his poetic offering. He wishes to immortalize his beloved through his words, a way he believes will stand the test of time. This figurative monument of praise and love for his ‘Fair Lord’ will live on even after the poet and his beloved have departed the world. He personifies ‘Time’ by using ‘sluttish’ as an epithet to qualify it. He describes ‘Time’ as an immoral woman, perhaps drawing comparisons in terms of unfaithfulness. Time is after all unfaithful, it leaves one’s side, it is never stationary, it is in constant flux and is ever-changing. The word ‘sluttish’ may also suggest the temporality of beauty or the façade of beauty that an immoral woman puts on. Just as the beauty of a slut is considered an entrapment likewise time and its favorable aspects are considered fatal snares.
The poet moves on to an associated theme next where he suggests the possibility of an impending disaster to hit humanity. It may so happen that even before Time, an untimely disaster like war may pull down monuments and raise statues to the ground. If the monuments stood for glory, they would be robbed of it all. The oblique reference to the transience of all other artwork (masonry) is unmistakable here. However, even wars cannot destroy the powers of the written word. The irony lies in the fact that poetry written on paper, which is perishable, has the power to outlive stone and marble monuments. Note the usage of ‘wasteful’ to describe wars, which shows the poet’s attitude of lamenting wars. It reflects the poet’s attitude to war, which he considers a waste of life and resources. It is a dark force of destruction and animosity. The reference to ‘Mars his sword’ points towards Greek mythology where Mars is the god of war. It is noteworthy that the poet believes that his work of art will remain untouched by the fires of war. Shakespeare seems to have been rather futuristic in that aspect since generations have passed and we are still reading his works and indeed getting to discover the ‘Fair Lord’. There have been many speculations regarding the identity of the Fair Youth/Fair Lord but the most commonly accepted reference if that of Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton. In Sonnet #3, he claims the ‘Fair Youth’ to be his mother’s mirror image. Time and its ravages on youth and beauty is a recurring theme in Shakespeare’s sonnets. Here, he moves a step further and focuses on the accomplices of Time such as ‘wasteful war’, ‘broils’, ‘Mars his sword’, ‘war’s quick fire’, and so on to describe Time’s destructive nature.
In the next few lines, he goes on to say that even after his beloved is dead, praises for him shall find a place in history and that way he will be remembered again and again for generations to come. Neither death nor the life’s enmities will ever be able to tarnish or fade his glory. The reference to ‘posterity’ suggests that even though the poet loved his beloved dearly, he was not averse to the idea of him procreating with his wife. ‘the judgment that yourself arise’ refers to the Judgement Day in the kingdom of God when He sits to run cases on souls. The poet contradicts himself when he says that after the day of judgment, there remains no need for immortality anymore. It might be interesting to speculate that he considers his ‘Fair Lord’ to be a pure soul who will never be blackened on the day of judgment and thus will forever remain immortalized through the verses the poet composes for him.