Shakespeare's Sonnets are provocative and emotional reflections on intimate relationships possibly inspired by lovers from the early part of Shakespeare's career, the same time during which Romeo and Juliet was composed. Through the use of personification, Shakespeare confronts the natural processes which create and destroy life, especially concentrating on the vigorous beauty of creation in its prime, "When I consider every thing that grows/ Holds in perfection but a little moment," (Sonnet 15, 1-2). He is sensitive to the frailty of the peak of life, how time hastily takes it as soon as it is displayed. He strives through the Sonnets to capture the youth so quickly lost to Time. Shakespeare allots human characteristics to Time in some of his Sonnets in order to give it a form so that it is something which can be palpated and conceptualized in essence. He likens time to a giver and taker of youth and defies its inevitable confiscation by absorbing his attention in styli!

zing perfect verse which exclaims and imitates his love's beauty and provides a residence for it within the confines of his words. By recognizing Time as a natural power among other forces which control the Earth'

Sonnet 126 demonstrates Times struggle with Nature over the lover mentioned. "If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,/ As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back," He explains that though Nature wants to maintain his lover's youth, Time is owed his due and Nature will eventually have "to render thee" (12). Shakespeare presents time to us as an ultimate authority and an unalterable catalyst for the eventual demise of creation. He gives Time in this role human characteristics which allows him to address and question why beauty must fade and eventually die. In Sonnet 15 he includes Decay in the panel of natural forces as a counterpart to Time. This sonnet gives to Decay the ability to empathize with his subject and displays Time as the adversary to beauty, "Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay/ To change your day of youth to sullied night,/ And all in war with Time for love of you" (11). Shakespeare is empowered by "All" other forces to help cement his love's b!

Though Shakespeare admits his powerlessness over Time's clutches and his "fickle glass," he purposes to write with such delicate style and universal imagery that centuries of time past could not deteriorate his verses' meanings, thus preserving and immortalizing youth in contradiction to the tendencies of the elements: "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,/ So long lives this, and this gives life to thee" (Sonnet 18, 14-15). Through personification, he demonstrates qualities of authority in his use of Time who sometimes is displayed as the ultimate supernatural force, and seeks through language to challenge this by preserving his love forever within the Sonnets.

eauty by solidifying it fro

Some common words found in the essay are:
Romeo Juliet, Death Sonnet, Shakespeare's Sonnets, sonnet 60, beauty youth, sonnet 18, shakespeare's sonnets, natural forces, eternal summer, sonnet 15, human characteristics, sonnet 126,
Approximate Word count = 1139
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)