By William Shakespeare

Group Members
Anuradha Mishra
Paramita Nanda
Licky Priyadarshini

Prerna Patjoshi

The word sonnet is derived from the

word sonetto, meaning a little sound
or a little song. A Sonnet is a poem of 14
lines with a structured rhyme scheme in
which thought about a subject is
developed thoroughly.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
THE POET

About the Poet

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was
born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He is
considered by many to be the greatest
dramatist of all time. He wrote 154
sonnets, two long narrative poems and
about three dozen plays. Shakespeare
used poetic and dramatic means to create
unified aesthetic effects. In verse he
perfected the dramatic blank verse.

Some other sonnets of William

Shakespeare
Sonnet 41. Those petty wrongs that
liberty commits
Sonnet 64. When I have seen by Times
fell hand defaced
Sonnet 109. O, never say that I was
false of heart
Sonnet 6. Then let not winters ragged
hand deface

The poem

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than upswept stone, besmeard with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.

'Gainst death, and all oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

meanings

Gilded: covered with gold; gold-plated

Unwept stone: a stone monument left
uncared for
Besmeard: tarnished; stained
Sluttish: of unclean habits and behavior
Broils: fighting, disturbances especially in
war
Mars: the god of war
Quick: lively; fast moving

Living record: the written memory of your

life which continues after you are dead
Gainst: against
Oblivious enmity: enmity which is
forgetful of everything and so seeks to
destroy everything
Pace forth: stride forwards
Posterity: future generations
Doom: the day on which the Last
Judgement will occur

Explanation & analysis

"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments / Of

princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;"

Statues and monuments will not last as long as this poem.

This is the moment the reader learns of the importance of
poetry to the speaker.

"But you shall shine more bright in these

contents / Than unswept stone, besmeared with
sluttish time."

And you will last longer, immortalized in this poem, than

the stone statues and monuments, which will fade and
become dusty over time.

"When wasteful war shall statues overturn, / And

broils root out the work of masonry,"

War and other disturbances will destroy statues and

monuments; now the speaker is trying to conjure the
devastating image of war in the reader's mind. This is an
effective technique which has the reader visualizing the work
of men being blown apart and statues being toppled to the
ground.

"Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall

burn / The living record of your memory."

But poetry, which memorializes you, cannot be destroyed by

these means.

"'Gainst death, and all oblivious enmity / Shall

you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,"

You shall outlast death and all other forces that seek to
destroy things. Here the poet informs his beloved that
through poetry her memory is protected against death and
that she will be unmindful of her enemies.

"Even in the eyes of all posterity / That wear this

world out to the ending doom."

Even for future generations. How ironic that the beloved

will even be remembered by future generations that will drag
this world toward the annihilation of mankind.

"So, till the judgment that yourself arise, / You

live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes."

So you will live in this poem until judgment day. This is

when the reader comes to the realization that even now the
beloved in immortal through this poem. She lives in the eyes
of lovers.

Summary
William Shakespeare's poem "Not marble, nor
the gilded monuments" brings the reader to the
sense of what is not important. His title
captivates the reader's imagination with images
of coldness and wealth. But as the true meaning
of the poem is made known, we learn that it is a
poem about love.

Monuments are made for the wealthy who

want to keep the memory of someone alive.
The tone Shakespeare creates in this poem is
that poetry is like a monument in keeping a
work of significance but that it is much more
immortal being handed down from generation
to generation. The image that materializes in
the reader's mind is that a poem will
transcend time and will leave behind the
material things of this life. Shakespeare was
prophetic in believing that this poem would
stand the test of time.

This Shakespearean sonnet makes the

reader wonder if Shakespeare was writing
about his mistress or just his love of
poetry. His contrast of love with war made
the poem very effective and leaves the
reader with the reality that love is the
most important thing in life.

commentary
A famous sonnet which rings changes on the
theme celebrated by Horace Exegi monumentum aere perennius
(I have built a monument more lasting than
bronze...)

but here given a new meaning in that it is the

loved one who is immortalised, rather than
the poet. The poet is himself only the
instrument to accomplish this end and he
humbly celebrates the glory of the youth The
sonnet shares its theme with that of several
others, 18, 19, 65, 81, 107, 123, which
oppose the power of verse to death and
Time's cruel knife, and promise immortality to
the beloved. Curiously enough, it does not
seem to make any difference that the verse
immortalises the youth without revealing him,
for the very fact of immortality seems to
confer anonymity.

The concluding couplet seems to be entirely

satisfying, and we do not need to press
further enquiries on the poet and demand to
know who it is to whom eternal life is given.
It is enough that he lives in lovers' eyes, for
they comprehend all mysteries, and perhaps,
on the last day, at the ending doom, we will
know all the answers anyway, and realise
that they were not all that important.