Sonnet 60

E498372

Sonnet 60 is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, meditating on the relentless passage of time and its effects on human life and beauty.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf English sonnet
Shakespearean sonnet
literary work
poem
addresses a young man
author William Shakespeare NERFINISHED
belongsToSequence Fair Youth sonnets NERFINISHED
canonicalStatus one of Shakespeare's best-known sonnets
closingCoupletFunction asserts poetry's power to outlast time
collection Quarto of 1609 NERFINISHED
contrast temporal change and poetic permanence
youth and aging
countryOfOrigin England
firstPublicationYear 1609
focus inevitability of decay
form sonnet
genre lyric poetry
imagery scythe of Time
sun's journey across the sky
waves moving toward a shore
influence frequently anthologized in English literature collections
language English
lineCount 14
literaryDevice alliteration
enjambment
metaphor
personification of Time
literaryPeriod English Renaissance NERFINISHED
meterType regular iambic pentameter with variations
metricalPattern iambic pentameter
numberInSequence 60
openingLine Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore
partOf Shakespeare's sonnets NERFINISHED
rhymeScheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
structure three quatrains and a final couplet
studiedIn Renaissance literature courses
Shakespeare studies
subjectMatter time's impact on human life and beauty
theme aging
destructive power of time
human life
mortality
passage of time
poetry as preservation
transience of beauty
tone meditative
melancholic
voltaPosition around line 9

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Sonnets hasPart Sonnet 60