Sonnet 60 Speech

Sonnet 60 –by Samuel Lucas Allen

Introduction

Sonnet 60 is a classic example of one the sonnets most prominent themes, the continual movement and destructive powers of time.

Quatrain 1

The first two lines of Q1 use a simile to liken minutes passing in time to waves moving from ocean the shore, the third line furthers the simile by describes the contestant and unchanging movements of both the waves and time.

Shaneen Darr (of Helium) states the idea that as “The pebbles of the shore indicate the hardships that we experience in our lives as time passes.” I agree with this statement, as it brings fourth the negative connotations of time, and the difficulty’s of our lives is which found once again in the last line of the quatrain. In this line the words “toil” and “contend” bring forth the idea of difficulty and struggles within our lives, this is echoing the idea created by the pebbles in the first line and working to build a negative connotation of time. 50 s

Quatrain 2

Q2 uses each line to establish the different stages of a human life.

the first line uses the word “Nativity” which could represent a birth of Jesus but in this context refers to a more general infancy. The second line uses the phrase “crawls to maturity and represents the change from child hood to adult hood. The third line represents old age with the word crooked. The final line references death as time taking back a gift it has given, almost as though life was only a lone. David west suggests the child is compared to the sun in line one with the phrase “once in main light” and that the life span is compared the journey made across the sky with the eclipse representing old age. Whilst this is possible I believe that Shakespeare is actually saying something different. It is my opinion that the phrases “main light” and “crowned” are actually references to the hierarchal system, the main light representing the sun and representing “Crowned” representing the monarch both of which are at...