Shakespeare-Sonnet XIX-

The poem is a sonnet without title because it belongs to a series of sonnets written by Shakespeare. It´s constructed with 3 quatrains and a final couplet. Its rhyme is distributed in this way ABAB CDCD EGEG HH and the type of rhyme is one-syllable rhyme ( masculine). The poem follows the iambic pattern (x /) and the main structure is the iambic pentameter- five feets in each line-. There are also some deviations that break the pattern which can be significative and will be commented.

The poet declares the prospect of immortality for the youth- the poet´s love- through his verse. The dominant theme is the destructive power of time ( killing sweetness and beauty everywhere), countered only by the force of love and the permanence of poetry.

In the first quatrain; the poet is addressing time. It makes a general introduction of the “devouring Time” effects on wild animals – lion, tiger_. It offers us examples of the ravages of time.

In the 2nd quatrain ; the poet is conscious of the passing of Time as it´s mention

In L9, we can see the open declaration of “ my love´s fair brow”, echoed in the final line “My love shall in my verse… The youth is now unambiguously addressed as my love. The furrows, (lines and wrinkles, as in a ploughed field),made by time in love´s fair brow, are symbolic of the ageing process.

In the 1st line the poet makes use of a recorded proverb of the age, “Time devours all things”. There, Time is shown destroying the fiercest as well as the mildest things. In the 3rd line there´s an irregularity in keen teeth-( / / )- and I think its purpose is to emphasize that even the tiger, almost a fabulous animal in Shakespeare time, was subject to decay. His fierceness was abated by the passing of time.

In the couplet there´s contrast. Resignation on the part of the poet is perceived because tiem cannot be stopped, whatever we do. The couplet is used as a turning point to tell us that immortal youth can be achieved for “my love”- the young man- by means of verses in his poetry.

ed the process of the seasons and doesn´t think he can hold back Time, and therefore allows it to do whatever he wishes. At the end of this quatrain there´s a

Some topics in this essay:
DETAILED ANALYSIS, STRUCTURE CONTENT, EGEG HH, Neo- Platonic, Shakespeare It´s, SURFACE STRUCTURE, / /, structure content, poet´s love, destructive power, love´s fair, quatrain poet, / x-, 3rd quatrain,