Immortality Through Verse in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and...

Immortality Through Verse in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Spenser’s Sonnet 75 Desiring fame, celebrity, and importance, people for centuries have yearned for the ultimately unattainable goal of immortality. Poets, too, have expressed desires in verse that their lovers remain as they are for eternity, in efforts of praise. Though Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Spenser’s Sonnet 75 from Amoretti both offer lovers this immortality through verse, only Spenser pairs this immortality with respect and partnership, while Shakespeare promises the subject of the sonnet immortality by unusual compliments and the assurance that she will live on as long as the sonnet continues to be read. Spenser debates with his lover, treating her as his†¦show more content†¦Contrastingly, the woman is temperate, therefore she never exhibits extreme behavior comparable to the sun (Ray, 10). Once Shakespeare concludes speaking about the Summer metaphor, he begins the third stanza with a contradiction to support the fact that the woman is not as temporary as a Summer’s day or even as a mortal human. Widening the scope of the sonnet from day to Summer and now to Death (Vendler, 120), he purports that her eternal Summer shall not fade†¦Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade—she will continue to be fair and young. Shakespeare continues the metaphor of the woman’s eternal Summer, meaning her beauty and youth, and contends that she will not die, for in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. The personification of death reinforces Shakespeare’s desire to defeat Time and Death at their own war game (Felperin, 130); by writing these lines, he is securing this special piece of time in eternity. In the ending couplet, Shakespeare uses seemingly ambiguous language to express his belief that the woman will achieve immortality through the timelessness of his sonnet. He asserts that as long as people read his poems, she will live because this gives life to thee. This assertion corresponds