What is the theme of Sonnet 60?

Sonnet 60 focuses upon the theme of the passing of time. This is one of the major themes of Shakespeare’s sonnets, it can be seen in Sonnet 1 as well. Like sonnets 1-126, Sonnet 60 is addressed to “a fair youth” whose identity is debated.

What literary devices are used in Sonnet 60?

“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration. “Sonnet 60” uses alliteration to bring its images and ideas to life.
  • Assonance.
  • Caesura.
  • Consonance.
  • Metaphor.
  • Personification.
  • Analogy.

How does Shakespeare use imagery in Sonnet 60?

The basic structure of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60 is pretty simple: each of the poem’s three quatrains centers on a different set of imagery, but each set of imagery illustrates a different aspect of the poem’s main theme: the passage of time. The sea is the main image for the passage of time in the first quatrain.

What is the problem in Sonnet 60?

Sonnet 60 is one of several Shakespearen sonnets dealing with the effects of time on youth and beauty. Time is seen as cruel and confusing, giving new life but also taking it and in the process destroying youthful beauty. In the end, hopefully, the one thing that can stand against time is the speaker’s verse.

What is the mood in Sonnet 60?

The tone is quite sad and melancholic. The speaker is talking about the circle of life which involves passing on to make way of new life.

What does Nativity mean in Sonnet 60?

at birth
In the second quatrain, he tells the story of a human life in time by comparing it to the sun: at birth (“Nativity”), it rises over the ocean (“the main of light”), then crawls upward toward noon (the “crown” of “maturity”), then is suddenly undone by “crooked eclipses”, which fight against and confound the sun’s glory …

How does Shakespeare in Sonnet 60 explain the nature of time as it passes and its effect on human life?

This sonnet attempts to explain the nature of time as it passes, and as it acts on human life. In the first quatrain, the speaker says that the minutes replace one another like waves on the “pebbled shore,” each taking the place of that which came before it in a regular sequence.

What hope does the speaker express regarding his verse in Sonnet 60?

SONNET 60: What hope does the speaker express regarding his verse? The speaker says that his verse, for all the years that it stands, is going to be “praising thy worth,” in spite of the “cruel hand” of time.

What does the couplet of Sonnet 60 mean?

In the couplet, the speaker opposes his verse to the ravages of time: he says that his verse will stand in times to come, and will continue to praise the “worth” of the beloved despite the “cruel hand” of time. Read a translation of Sonnet 60 →