William Shakespeare

Sonnet LX

Shakespeare's sonnets are a collection of 154 sonnets, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality, first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.: Never before imprinted.

• A sonnet is a poem made up of 14 lines. There are different types of sonnets, but the two most popular types are the Petrarchan sonnet (Italian) or the Shakespearean sonnet (English).

• A Shakespearean sonnet is made up of three quatrains and a couplet

• The rhyme scheme is always abab, cdcd, efef, gg

A sonnet is a form of lyric poetry. Lyric poetry presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story or presents a witty observation. The topic of most sonnets written in Shakespeare's time is love or a theme related to love.

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, wherewith being crown'd,

Crooked elipses '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 beauty's brow,

Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,

And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,

Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.