“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” Introduction

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“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” Summary

“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” Themes

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  Time, Art, and Immortality

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore”

• Lines 1-2

  Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore,
  So do our minutes hasten to their end;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  Each changing place with that which goes before,
  In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Nativity, once in the main of light,
  Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
  Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
  And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  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:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
  Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

  

  

  

  

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“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Analogy

  

  

  

  

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“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” 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.

• Hasten
• Sequent
• Toil
• Contend
• Nativity
• Main
• Maturity
• Wherewith
• Eclipses
• 'Gainst
• Doth
• Confound
• Transfix
• Flourish
• Set On
• Delves
• Parallels
• Scythe
• Mow

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” Speaker

“Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore”

More “Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore” Resources

• External Resources

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

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

  • The Poem Out Loud — "Sonnet 60" read by the legendary Patrick Stewart.  

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

  • Time in Shakespeare's Sonnets — Learn more about how Shakespeare treats one of his favorite themes throughout his poetry.

• 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 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments

  • 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"