30/09/2020

SONNET XV

Inglese:

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 checked even by the self-same 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.

Italiano:

Quando penso che tutto ciò che nasce
resta perfetto un solo breve istante,
e questa scena immensa offre solo fantasmi
su cui le stelle calano il loro arcano influsso.

Quando vedo crescere gli uomini come le piante,
favoriti o contrastati dallo stesso cielo,
e vantarsi in gioventù e al culmine decrescere,
cancellando dalla memoria l’orgogliosa primavera,

allora nel sogno di questa vita precaria,
ti mostri ai miei occhi di gioventù vestito,
mentre il tempo e la morte cospirano insieme,
per trasformare in fetida notte il tuo fresco giorno;

    allora per amor tuo lotto col tempo
    e come esso ti lacera, io ti risemino ancora.

Page 136 exercise 1

a. True

b. False

c. False

d. True

e. False

f. True

Page 137 exercise 2

b. Because the stars are beautiful but they are still mysterious. And uses the metaphor of the sky which, for example, when it rains contrasts plants as well as men.

c. “That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows”. Practically the world is life cannot be known in fact uses the metaphor of ghosts that no one can see them and that remain and will always remain a mystery.

Page 137 exercise 3

a. the linker that introduces the third stanza is “then” it has an explement function.

b. he uses the pronoun you and it stand for his beloved.

c. the time is the destruction of his love, because it isn’t eternal.  

Page 137 exercise 4

1. love

2. fights

3. time

4. Youth

5. beloved

6. life

7. poem

Page 137 exercise 5

Two examples of personification are the stars and the plants. The poet uses devices like metaphors.

Page 137 exercise 6

Textual analysis of the poem

Right from the title I expect the poem to be about the considerations of the writer. The sonnet is arranged into three quatrain and a rhyming couplet. In the first stanza the poet realises that the perfection of the things lasts for a few moments. This is an illusion gives from the stars. In the second stanza the poem uses a metaphor to compare men and plant. In the third stanza the poet says that his beloved one day will go and die. But in the rhyming couplet the writer gives to the beloved an eternal youth. I think that the message of the poem is that everything must come to an end we have to appreciate every second because there won’t be another identical one.