莎士比亚十四行诗第60首文本分析颂

彭素强 （黄石理工学院 湖北黄石 435003）

莎士比亚十四行诗第60首文本分析颂

彭素强 （黄石理工学院 湖北黄石 435003）

In Shakespeare’s sonnet 60， the poet depicts the ravages of time. However， the poet indicates that his verse will survive and be eternal. It is indisputable that the destruction of time is inevitable， but human beings can be preserved through art.

The sonnet consists of three quatrains and a couplet.All the quatrains describe how time is terrible， but each of them deals with the topic in a different way.In the first quatrain， the poet employs a simile to describe time: “Like the waves make towards the pebbled shore”. It is a visual image. We can see the tide and its movement. Time is what we cannot see or catch， so this image turns something invisible into concrete. The speaker compares the passing of time with the movement of the tide， and as each wave paves its way to the shore， it is followed and replaced by another stronger one. Time hastens in “sequent toil”. Just as the tide never stops moving， time goes to its end without a moment of rest. In this quatrain， the poet express his idea that time will not wait for anybody with the help of the image of the tide.

In the following quatrain， time becomes crueler.The poet uses the metaphor of the sun which goes through a whole day. At first， it crawls from “the main of light”， which is another image linking to the first one in the previous quatrain. Then， it is crowned in maturity. At last， it falls behind the “crooked eclipses” and dies. In the last line of this quatrain，time confounds “his gift”. The poet uses gift from time to indicate human life and all the accessories， such as wealth， prosperity， happiness and all we may have. As time passes by， humanbeings lose all things that they have owned. What is most significant in this quatrain is the use of verbs. The first verb is “crawl”，which originally means that an infant moves slowly with its body on or close to the ground. The second verb is“crown”， which indicates that something has reached its highest place. The last verb which is worth our attention to is “confound”， which means to defeat somebody or prevent a plan. With these verbs， the life of a human being is involved from birth to death. Time is personified as extremely strong， which cannot be defeated. What makes time most horrible is that it will take everything away from us. Since no one can avoid the process from birth to death， nothing will remain with unavoidable death. Compared with the image in the first quatrain， time is more pitiless and nobody can survive in the fight against it.

In the last quatrain， the ruthlessness of time reaches its climax. The poet employs many metaphors.In line nine， time is personified to “transfix the flourish on the youth”. In line ten， it “delves the parallels in beauty’s brow”. Beauty is also personified. In the following line， personified time feeds “on the rarities of nature’s truth”. In the last line， time is thought to be a man with a scythe. In fact，time is described more like a monster， which destroys the beauties that man has. Furthermore， the poet employs antithesis to show the strong and horrible destructive force of time. On the one hand， the poet uses some words to show something nice， such as flourish， youth， beauty， brow，rarities and truth. On the other hand， he also employs some “cruel” or “terrible” words， such as transfix，delve， scythe and mow. With these strong comparisons， the ruthlessness of time could not be clearer. With the help of this antithesis， it seems that the poet is showing a vivid picture: a ravage monster is digging trenches into beauty，licking up nature’s rarities and mowing down everything with his scythe.

Despite all the outrage of time， the poet turns to a way to confound time in the couplet， that is， his verse will be immortal， no matter how cruel time is.The couplet is the conclusion of this poem.

Another point that cannot be neglected is the unique way the poet deals with images. Each quatrain deals with one image: the tide， the sun which spans the day and the scythe. These images are arranged in such a way that the destructive force of time is strengthened step by step. The first image of tide shows an oppression that time waits for nobody. The second image of the sun expresses a robbery of all by time. At last， the image of the scythe represents an overwhelming force to destroy everything. With this subtle arrangement the cruelty of time is also presented step by step. It is because of the strong force of time that the power of poems to survive is more impressive. It is also a sharp comparison of the two opposing forces: the crueler time is， the more powerful art is.

The sonnet is rhymed as ababcdcdefefgg; the meter is iambic pentameter. It is the so-called Shakespearian sonnet. The rhyme makes each quatrain separate， but all quatrains and the couplet are linked by their meaning and reinforced step by step.

Like many other poems during the Renaissance， the theme of this poem was the power of verse. Shakespeare reaches this conclusion with the help of time as an opposing object. Everything will decay， and everyone will die， but art is the very means to overcome it and survive. In short， Time is ruthless， but art will be immortal.

reference：

[1]Abrahams， M. H.: A Glossary of Literary Terms. Thomson Wadsworth 2005

[2]Leech， Geoffrey N.: A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. Longman London 1979

[3]Furniss， Tom & Bath， Michael: Reading Poetry: An Introduction.Longman 2001

[4]Stapleton， Michael， ed.: The Cambridge Guide to English Literature.Cambridge University Press 2006

[5]Aczel， Richard: How to write an Essay. Klett 2006

A large number of Shakespeare's sonnets deals with humanist theme， in which he recounts the power of verse against time. So is his Sonnet 60. Shakespeare employs the artifice of images here to foster a hope that the power of verse leads to eternity.

Shakespeare；Renaissance；iamge；metaphor；power of verse

彭素强，1975年10月生于湖北省黄石市，华中师范大学外国语学院教育硕士，黄石理工学院讲师。