Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood;
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st,
And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
O! carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
Yet, do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.
Please carry on your thoughts and discussion from the lesson in the 'comments' box below.
Love the personification of time, makes it sound like a jolly old man. I guess he was write that by reading his poem we are keeping his love alive. Freaky and a little bit self obsessed but hey ho!
ReplyDeleteThe begining of this poem shows that no matter how much you can try to grasp Time, hense the 'blunt'ness of the lions' paws, Time will continue. As though the lion has tried to stop time, but can't.
ReplyDelete'My love shall in my verse ever live young' this could show that he will always be the same age in this poetry and love forever, Time can't change the way that he feels right at this moment in time. Very Doiran Grey-esque I thought - Time can't change the way you looked at that moment in time. :)
I like the idea of the lion trying to grasp hold of time, but failing. My personal interpretation of "blunt thou the lions paws" was that time had the nerve to take away the killing weapon of the ultimate predator of the animal kingdom. This sort of links in with what Shakeela mentioned below- how Shakespeare's presenting us with all these powerful and enduring images, but rather presenting them as short-lived passions in comparison to his love for his muse. The phoenix, the burning of blood, the tiger all paint rich red colours in my mind and connote to aggressive dominance, yet time is powerful enough to steal that dominance away.
DeleteOne thing I still don't understand though is the meaning behind the lines "Him in thy course untainted do allow For beauty's pattern to succeeding men."
The use of imagery through the strong animalistic diction in the first few lines e.g'long-lived phoenix in her blood' creates a vivid and ever lasting powerful canvas in the readers mind. You would think that a 'long lived phoenix' is something that can't be compared to as it re-lives life over and over again so it seems impossible to compare love to this. This just shows how significant this reference is as the underlying message is that in some sense the ultimate power of love can withstand and match any form of immortality(just like the phoenix).
ReplyDeleteAlso the use of the diction 'blood' may seem grotesque because of the previous references of animalism. However I surprisingly find it a little romantic because I always though a phoenix was elegant and graceful (especially after I saw it in Harry Potter :P)The colour connotation is particularity open for discussion as has it has two interpretations. On one hand it could be a denotion for danger but on the other hand it be a deep, rich enticing colour that represents love (e.g universal Valentine's Day)and this highlights my point of 'blood' being a romantic choice of word. Also it perfectly emphasises the point of love making you do crazy things, regardless if it's good or bad.
http://www.williamshakespeare-sonnets.com/wp-content/uploads/KJLessays.pdf this website has detailed analysis on each of Shakespeares sonnets. For sonnet 19 it is pages 89-91 although some of the information is a bit confusing. Also i found this information... In Sonnet 19, one of a number of sonnets which praise the beauty of the Earl of Southhampton, the speaker desires that the young man he writes about never age. The speaker explicitly addresses Time, asking it to spare his beloved, and then, after acknowledging the impossibility of that, states that his love will live on in his poetry regardless of Time’s effects.
ReplyDeleteAlso i found a powerpoint which has some good analysis on sonnet 19 http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=18&ved=0CFYQFjAHOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Frobbiedempsey.files.wordpress.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fsonnet-19.pptx&ei=SbQxUqnPHerX7AbOlYCAAQ&usg=AFQjCNHSn303_rt148VZroWcoWzRjYXTcQ
I also found that sonnet 63 is very similar to sonnet 19, they both consider the destructive nature of time and the effect on mans beauty.
:)