In sonnet 81, the speaker addresses his poem, as he often does.
First Quatrain: “Or I shall live your epitaph to make”
In the first quatrain, he proposes two ideas: he will live to write the epitaph for his poetry, or his poetry will outlive him. He chooses to believe and act on the latter, because “From hence your memory death cannot take.”
Even though the speaker, who lives in a physical body, must eventually die, death cannot take away his sonnets once he has written them. While the writer of the sonnets will be forgotten, the works themselves will remain eternally.
Second Quatrain: “Your name from hence immortal life shall have”
After having finished composition of each sonnet, the speaker/poet christens the work, giving it a name, and he confidently proclaims “your name from hence immortal life shall have.” This speaker has often shown his confidence in his talent, and he has often demonstrated his heavy reliance on his poetic muse.
He then remarks that while his earthly flesh must be buried in that earth, his sublime poetry will live “in men’s eyes.” The interesting metaphor of likening the poetry to the entombed body generates the opposite reality. The poetry is not “entombed” but is full of vibrant life.
Third Quatrain: “Your monument shall be my gentle verse”
The poetry will be a monument to the poet, but more importantly, it will be a monument to itself. The speaker calls his poetry “gentle verse.” And he then indicates that it is being written for “eyes not yet created.” The speaker often projects his thoughts far into the future.
Not only will eyes play lovingly over his “gentle verse,” but also “tongues to be your being shall rehearse.” The speaker/poet seems to be referring not only to his sonnets but also to his plays, which, of course, continue even today to be performed world-wide.
The Couplet: “You still shall live,—such virtue hath my pen”
The speaker dramatizes the future of his poems in the couplet: “You still shall live,—such virtue hath my pen,— / Where breath most breathes,—even in the mouths of men.” When all the people who are living at the time of the speaker have vanished, he is confident that his poetic works “still shall live.” It is by “virtue” of his “pen” that such a phenomenon can occur. He believes the poems as they will be spoken and read by future generations will have even more life than he could ever envision.
Other Shakespeare articles: Who is Shakespeare?
Sonnet Commentaries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 96, 116, 126, 130, 138, 146
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