Sonnet 65- A detailed Analysis

Sonnet 65 by William Shakespeare feasts every reader with excellent conceptual content which persistently overpowers the visual imagery in the sonnet. Within the verse, the imageries that are represented take sensible yet subtle turns to complement each other. The Portrayal of characters in the Shakespearean sonnets is highly intellectual and rich in linguistic style. 

SONNET:

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,

But sad mortality o'er-sways their power, 

How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, 

Whose action is no stronger than a flower? 

O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out 

Against the wreckful siege of battering days, 

When rocks impregnable are not so stout, 

Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays?

O fearful meditation! Where, alack, 

Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie hid?

Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back? 

Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid? 

   O, none, unless this miracle have might,

   That in black ink my love may still shine bright.

ANALYSIS:

Initially, the Words that reflect different imageries need to be figured out. 

• “Brass”,” Stone “, “boundless sea” – visual imagery ( can be observed)
• “Sad Mortality”, “wreckful siege of battering days”, “Time decays” – Conceptual imagery ( can hardly be visualized)
• “summer's honey breath”—conceptual and can pertain to touch which means one can feel the warm air of Summer
• “Rocks impregnable”, “gates of steel so strong”—literal imagery (which explains a fact)
• “Time's best jewel”, “Time's chest” –metaphorical usage which represents two different meanings. 

Basically being a lyrical cry, the sonnet is written to stress upon the inconsistency of love. The feeling of love is delicate than a flower and could be subject to destruction by any force. Shakespeare introduces physical entities like brass, stone and sea which can’t go head to head with the destructive power of time. After all, it’s time that decides the lifespan of every single thing on earth.

Something that cleverly accounts to the comparison of death and time is the metaphorical usage in the words “Time's best jewel”, “Time's chest” casting magical bliss. 

“Time's best jewel”- the Earl’s love which he personally thinks is a force & 

“Time's chest”- death which finally embraces the most beautiful jewel of love. 

Shakespeare skillfully places conceptual, visual and literal imagery side by side bringing perfect harmony all through the verse.

To finally understand what’s in the sonnet, the natural rush to appreciate a simple comparison is seriously needed. Let’s begin rephrasing…

None of nature’s products can withstand the catastrophic power of time, be it brass, stone or sea, Crushing death is what would be the result.

Love being all the more delicate, softer than a flower cannot stand before the power of destruction. 

The warm summer air again cannot last for long when days and seasons keep changing. 

When strong rocks and gates of steel are shattered how can love hide itself from the chest of time (death). 

Beauty and love can survive only if there is a miracle turning things topsy turvy. However, feelings can die, not what Shakespeare writes in black ink. 

Truth through his black ink would survive and create logical impulse to make people understand the fact of life.

Lastly, Shakespeare strongly believes that conceptual writing produces everlasting masterpieces and brings reasoning to play. Sonnet 65 holds the credit for being the best conceptual piece of love poetry cutting down on elaborate Elizabethan style and introducing crisp, interesting content. 

-- Sashank Franklin Sargunaraj & Roopa

Sonnet 65 – An Introduction

William Shakespeare, the poet who brought definitive merging of Conceptual meaning &diction with a number of 154 sonnets that were authored in two distinct flavors. The essence that the sonnets primarily evince is brilliant with a tinge of logic around.

To comprehend what the sonnets elucidate, the reader needs to understand the personal life of Shakespeare interconnected to two others, namely, the Earl of Southampton & the Dark Lady. Predominantly, the sonnets revolve around these characters. The Earl of Southampton, a man of kindness, is said to be Shakespeare’s best friend and according to Shakespeare what a paradigm of exceptional charm is. The Dark Lady, her maiden name being Mary Fitton, is coy, flirtatious and her Love towards men termed inconsistent. She was Shakespeare’s mistress even before getting sensually attracted to the Earl of Southampton.

The division of the flavor that the sonnets reflect takes a perfect shape when Shakespeare gets dumped by his mistress. The first definite set talks about the matchless inspiration of Shakespeare, the Earl of Southampton and the second set about the humiliation from unattainable love.

In sonnet 65, the conceptual tug of war between time and love is excellently portrayed, bringing decisive content to limelight & getting off the ladder of Elizabethan Exuberance. This is what almost each critic of the century said. The uses of imagery in sonnets are wide, vivid, yet logical, hence divided as abstract and concrete. The abstract imagery is the relationship that runs amongst Shakespeare, Earl and the Dark Lady. Concrete Imagery is the usual representation of nature and entities that form the atmosphere of the verse.

Shakespeare also made clear that the idea of imagery is never confined within the limits of simply witnessing. Feelings, idea, movement also fall under imagery that one can actually feel. Theoretically those are the senses like Tactile, audio, visual, kinesthetic. However, Factuality & conceptuality chiefly account to the formation of imagery.

With a mix of broad use of imagery, cutting the use of mythological figures and tending to a Conceptual domination, Sonnet 65 ultimately pictures Subtle truth.