Shakespeares Sonnet 19 :: essays research papers

Shakespeares Sonnet 19In his Sonnet 19, Shakespeare presents the timeless theme of terms mutability.As the devotee apostrophizes Time, one might expect him to address "old Time" asinconstant, for such an epithet implies times changeability. entirely inconstantalso suggests capricious, and the rooter finds time more grave than whimsical inits alterations. With the epithet " ruin" he addresses a greedy, ravenoushunger, a Time that is wastefully erosive. profess to Time its wrongs, the lover at number one appears to encourage Time to match its insatiable appetite. Indeed, he familiarly addresses Time as "thou"as he commands it harshely to "blunt, n "make the earth devour, n "pLuck," and"burn." Not besides are the verbs "blunt,n npluck," and "burn" linked by assonance,but also by their plosive initial consonants, so that the Lovers orders soundoff Times destructiveness as well. each line offers a different image of T imeat forge on the lion, the earth, the tiger, the phoenix-bird. Time isindiscriminate in its devouring.In the second quatrain, the lover grants to Time its own will "And do whateerthou wilt, swift-footed Time," acknowLedging priorly that in its perish passageTime does "Make glad and sorry seasons. n For the first time one sees Time inother than a destructive capacity--in its cycLical change of seasons, some Timedoes "make glad" with flower sweets. So the lover changes his epithet fromdevouring to swift-footed, certainly more electroneutral in tone. For now the lovermakes his most assertive command "But I forbid thee one most heinous crime. nThe utmost quatrain finds the lover ordering Time to stay its antic "antique frame" from aging or marring his love. It is a heinous crime to carve and wanderlines on youth and beauty. ere the Lover no Longer speaks with forcefulpLosives his speech, for tout ensemble the appearance of imperative command, sou nds more