What meaning do you find in Shakespeare Sonnet 60?

Question

Shakespeare Sonnet 60:

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, where with being crown'd,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight.
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauties brow,
Feeds on the rarities of natures truth,
And nothing stands before his scyth to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

What does this say to you? What meaning do you find?

Answer 1

Many of Shakespeare's sonnets deal with the passage of Time, and how everything beautiful must grow old and come to an end. Endless waves crashing against the short ... minutes hastening toward their end...nativity (birth) crawling toward maturity (adulthood) ... Do you see it? Unfortunately, with growing old also comes the loss of beautfy -- what Time gave, it also takes away.



The important part of each sonnet is to look for the "volta", or "turn", somewhere toward the end, where Shakespeare resolves the problem he's just illustrated. Look for "yet" or "but", those are often a clue. Here it's in the last two lines, paraphrased -- "yet my verse, which praises thy beauty, will be something that can outlast Time's cruel hand."



In the turn, this sonnet is very similar to sonnet 18 -- both essentially say "Yes, you're beautiful *now*, you no matter what you do, you're going to get old and lose your beauty. But my poem? That will live forever, and that will tell people how beautiful you were."

Answer 2

Sonnet 60

Answer 3

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RE:

What meaning do you find in Shakespeare Sonnet 60?

Shakespeare Sonnet 60:



Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end;

Each changing place with that which goes before,

In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

Nativity, once in the main of light,

Crawls to maturity, where with being...

Answer 4

Sex is awesome, but wanting it makes getting it even better. The problem today is people screw like they breathe. It is no big deal. Immediate gratification. When Shakespeare was doing his thing it was not so easy to go get laid. So you ached for it. You bought the girl houses and land and you gave her gold and all kinds of stuff just for a little nookie. Lets pretend sex with women is a stock, we will make the ticker symbol SWW. Shares of SWW were through the roof back in the day. Men wanted shares of it and they worked harder than ever to get some. Now shares of SWW are essentially worthless. The market is saturated. Back in the day even shares of syphilitic prostitute sex would be worth more than shares of a typical non hooker woman today. Women have become cheap. I hate to say it, but it is true. Sex is about as appetizing today as masturbation. It gets the job done but it is pretty bland.