“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Introduction

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“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Summary

“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Themes

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  Poetry and Immortality

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments”

• Lines 1-2

  Not marble nor the gilded monuments
  Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  But you shall shine more bright in these contents
  Than unswept stone besmeared with sluttish time.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
  And broils root out the work of masonry,
  Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
  The living record of your memory.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  ’Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
  Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
  Even in the eyes of all posterity
  That wear this world out to the ending doom.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

      So, till the Judgement that yourself arise,
      You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.

  

  

  

  

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“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Symbols

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  Stone Monuments

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“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Marble
• Gilded
• Rhyme
• Contents
• Unswept
• Besmeared
• Sluttish
• Broils
• Masonry
• Mars
• 'Gainst
• All-oblivious
• Enmity
• Posterity
• Ending Doom
• Judgement
• Arise
• Dwell

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Speaker

“Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments”

More “Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Identity of the Fair Youth — Read about the debated identity of the sonnet's mysterious addressee. 

  • The First Edition of the Sonnets — See the sonnet in its original context: the 1609 Quarto edition.

  • Shakespeare's Sonnets — Find all the sonnets, plus some analysis, in one useful place! 

  • The Sonnet Out Loud — Hear the poem read by the celebrated British actor Patrick Stewart.

  • The Sonnet as a "Little Room" — Listen to a fascinating lecture by the late, great scholar Russ McDonald, which interprets the sonnets in their historical context.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by William Shakespeare

  • Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

  • Sonnet 129: Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame

  • Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time

  • Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

  • Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth

  • Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes

  • Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still

  • Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

  • Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws

  • Sonnet 20: A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted

  • Sonnet 27: "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed"

  • Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

  • Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

  • Sonnet 33: Full many a glorious morning have I seen

  • Sonnet 45: The other two, slight air and purging fire

  • Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore

  • Sonnet 65 ("Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea")

  • Sonnet 71: No longer mourn for me when I am dead

  • Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold

  • Sonnet 94: "They that have power to hurt"