Textuality » 4LSCA Interacting

EKoci- When I consider- 5/10/20
by EKoci - (2020-10-05)
Up to  4LSCA - Lyric PoetryUp to task document list

                                                                                WHEN I CONSIDER

When I consider everything that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
 
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and check'd even by the selfsame sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
 
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
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,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.
 
 


This sonnet "When I consider" was written by William Sheakspeare in 1609.


The text is organised/arranged into three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet. This structure remember us the structure of Elizabethan sonnet.


In the first stanza the speaking voice begins by sharing some thoughts about growth and brevity of life, you can understand that from some words : little moment and grows. The lirical I adresses to the fair youth who appears to not want to have kids and share his beauty.In the final line of the first quatrain there is a metaphore that alludes to the idea of heaven thanks to the word stars.


The second stanza starts with a simili that compare man to plant. Bouth of them go through the same stages: youth, decline and death. The speaking voice keeps repeating the brevity of life by saying that the beauty of the fair youth is not going to last forever.


The third stanza begins with the word then so you can understand that the speaking voice is going to continue what he has been telling us before. Infact old age is coming for the fair youth, it can't be stopped. In this stanza are included two personifications Time and Decay, the lirical I gives them the ability to make decisions as human beings. This two words go against each other because of their meaning. When someone or something dies there isn't any conception of time.


The final rhyming couplets go against of what the speaking voice has been telling us. one day the fair youth will die but thanks to the lirical I that wrote this sonnet he will be reminded in time. So the speaking voice is going to make eternal the fair youth in time.