Of the three Edmund Spenser sonnets we read, my favorite was Sonnet 75. I loved the sad romance and the metaphor of the tide as mortality. The message that, yes, everyone dies but the people you spend your life will carry on your memory after you're gone really resonates with me. Sonnets really amaze me because of the sound of them, smooth and elegant despite the difficult structure. I can imagine the work that had to be put into this lovely sonnet.
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Againe I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his pray.
"Vaine man," said she, "that dost in vain assay.
A mortal thing so to immortalize!
For I myself shall like to this decay,
and eke my name be wiped out likewise."
"Not so," quod I, "let baser things devise,
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Sonnet 75
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
this one was my favourite too :) you're right, it's sad but in an elegant, artistic way.
ReplyDeleteyeah I liked this one, but I still like sonnet 67 better, because of the whole metaphor of the hunt and the game :)
ReplyDeleteLove it as well, very beautiful metaphors in the sonnet and makes the tone of the poem peaceful and "loving" :)Great review!
ReplyDeletelove this sonnet, by far the best of the ones we read in my opinion. great review!
ReplyDelete