Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 19
Personification of Time, Literary Devices and Narrator's Retaliation
Jan 26, 2009
In Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 19", the narrator wishes to preserve the beauty of his beloved. To do so, he demands personifies time and demands Time to make his wishes come true. By personifying time and using literary devices, the narrator illustrates how Time antagonizes him but that he is confident that he can retaliate against time and succeed in the attempt.
The Personification of Time
The first line of the second quatrain demonstrates Time as being uncaring because it “make[s] glad and sorry season as [it] fleet’st”. This implies that the seasons become happy when it is their turn to start but become sad when their time is up. Time is given a negative connotation because it is apathetic towards the feelings of the season. Aside from being apathetic, Time is described as selfish and unrestrained because it will do “whate’er thou wilt.” By making Time an entity, the narrator directs his poem against Time and makes it a more personal attack.
Diction and Repetition
The word choice and repetition in the first two lines of “devour” provides a distinct image of one with a ravenous or gluttonous appetite. When personifying earth as “devour[ing] her own sweet brood” (line 2) the reader is not left with a beautiful image of death and burial, but rather that the earth is going to eat all life forms. Not only is this a negative image, but it also indicates that Time is an evil force behind death.
Shift in Voice
The last sentence of the second quatrain demonstrates the shift in voice when the narrator “forbid[s] [Time] one most heinous crime,” aging his lover. For this narrator, taking beauty from his lover is worse than killing her because she should be “beauty’s pattern to succeeding men” (line 12). The fact that the narrator “forbids” Time to defy its nature signifies the narrator’s conviction that he has power and control over Time.
Use of a Couplet
The three quatrains build up to the final couplet when the narrator states that time can do its worse in aging his lover, but that it will not matter because his “love shall in my verse ever live young”. By telling Time to “do thy worst”, the narrator challenges Time in a duel he feels he can win. It also asserts that although seasons, earth, and the fiercest of mammals cannot withstand the test of time, his sonnet will. His confident attitude is epitomized in this final defiant gesture, this poem that will last forever and that Time is powerless to stop it.
By addressing his poem towards Time, and not a general audience, the narrator’s opinions are more evident. The narrator is cocky because he feels that Time is a negative force that can be reckoned with. Not only that it can be reckoned with, but that he has the power to beat Time.
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