I couldn't help but question what happens those who live their lives for the praise of their beauty? Do they see their beauty fade or continue to starve for the attention and praise?
It seems to me that Shakespeare sees beauty differently. Always in relation to time. Even in Sonnet 14 when Shakespeare is talking about beauty in relation to truth, he brings it back to time and when time will end and beauty meets doom and date. Sonnet 55 talks about how this person has an endless beauty and that his or her praise will even come from posterity. This of course in contrast to Sonnet 106, when the praise of beauty becomes a "chronicle of wasted time.
Why would Shakespeare have such a contrasting view of this beauty? Shouldn't praise for beauty be either a waste or something to value?
I really like the questions you pose Karee. It is interesting to look at other Shakespearean sonnets and see his other work contradict this poem. It makes me wonder what Shakespeare thought about beauty in his every day life. Did he believe the things he wrote in his sonnets? Or did he write the way he did for the benefit of the public?
ReplyDeleteMallory, I didn't even think about asking if Shakespeare believed what he wrote or not. I wonder if it was a matter of where he was in his life. After reading Sam's post about Sonnet 29, I feel like Shakespeare probably had his ups and downs with relationship like most of us. I wonder if his sonnets sometimes contradict each other because he learned something new or felt inspired by a new relationship.
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