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Compare And Contrast Sonnet 60 And 64

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Sonnets 60 and 64 are about the effects of time. This is a recurrent theme in Shakespeare's poems. Through the use of imagery, Shakespeare provides relatable experiences to describe the passage of time. Sonnet 60 provides three examples of the passage of time the first is waves moving towards a shore, the second is a child growing to maturity, and the third is time's effects on the beauty of youth. Sonnet 64 provides three of Shakespeare's personal experiences the first is time's effects on towers and brass, the second is the ocean and a shore, the third is the change of condition of things. Both sonnets have similarities and differences in themes, structure, and speech acts.
Sonnets 60 and 64 have a similar theme of Time destroying things and eventually taking his love away. The difference is that sonnet 60 has a more hopeful ending than sonnet 64. In the couplet of sonnet 60 Shakespeare has hope that his verse will stand against time and the poem …show more content…

In both sonnets the word "confound" is used to describe the actions of Time. This word in both sonnets express the destructive nature of Time. Also, in sonnet 64 there is a sonic pattern. 10 of the 14 lines end with a word that contains a long "a" sound for example: defaced, age, razed, rage, gain, main, state, decay, ruminate, and away. This repetition could symbolize that Time's effects are constant. The poem also ends with the word "lose" so this could mean Time's effects are constant until the thing it is effecting is lost. There is one subject per quatrain in sonnet 60. In quatrain one the subject is waves, quatrain two the subject is nativity, and in quatrain three the subject is Time. In sonnet 64 there is only one main subject and verb which is "I" and the verb is "Seen". However, in the couplet of sonnet 64 the subject is ambiguous. It could be the "thought" or "death" that is doing the action of weeping for something that it will

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