19 pages • 38 minutes read
William ShakespeareSonnet 55
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1609A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare (1609)
Perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous poem, this sonnet builds a comparison between the fair youth and a summer day. Shakespeare argues that he cannot compare the fair youth to a summer day, and, ironically, he makes this argument by comparing the two. Ultimately, the poem focuses on all the negatives of a summer day, and it uses these negatives to show how the fair youth is an ideal example of beauty. At the end of the poem, Shakespeare claims that the fair youth will live forever because the poem has immortalized him, similar to the claim made in “Sonnet 55.”
“Sonnet 107” by William Shakespeare (1609)
“Sonnet 107” is similar to “Sonnet 55.” Both poems make an argument for the fair youth’s immortality, both argue that the poem serves as the living monument that gives immortality to the fair youth, and both poems suggest that the only thing that will outlive the poem is the final judgment, which will result in the fair youth being reborn. “Sonnet 107” also makes use of the image of monuments, making it something of a companion poem to “Sonnet 55.”
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818)
A bit of an outlier among these related poems, this is not a love poem, nor is it dedicated to a specific subject. Instead, Shelley uses the imagery of a monument to demonstrate the power that time has over human creation. The poem makes a similar argument to “Sonnet 55” and “Sonnet 107.” The argument is that the physical constructions humans build to honor themselves are fool’s gold. In this poem, for example, a traveler is told of a monument to a great king in the desert. The monument is almost completely destroyed and decayed, yet it has a description that speaks to the monument’s subject’s hubris. While this great king who built the monument thought it would essentially grant him immortality, time has denied that wish.
Further Literary Resources
"How to Analyze a Shakespearean Sonnet" by Shakespeare Online (2008)
This article (and website) is incredibly helpful when analyzing Shakespeare’s sonnets. In particular, this article gives a basic introduction to how to read the sonnets and understand their meaning. The article suggests starting by identifying the theme of the sonnet, and one way to easily do this is to understand how the sonnet sequence is divided. There are essentially three major themes in the sonnets: “(1) the brevity of life, (2) the transience of beauty, and (3) the trappings of desire.”
After identifying the major theme within the sequence, the article suggests identifying the ways Shakespeare uses form to convey the theme. The article lists a number of literary devices and links to sonnets where Shakespeare uses them.
Finally, the article suggests readers use the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is a historical dictionary that tracks definitions over time, making it very handy for the study of Shakespeare.
“Introduction to the Sonnets” by G. R. Ledger (2009)
This lengthy introduction to the sonnets covers a lot of ground. The article opens with an argument that Shakespeare always intended to publish the sonnets. To support this claim, Ledger focuses on the structure of the sonnet sequence as well as the thematic progression and repetition in the poems.
Ledger then discusses the dedication page at the beginning of the sonnets and argues that Shakespeare wrote it and that it contains biblical themes. He makes this argument by comparing biblical passages to some of the sonnets to identify similarities.
Ledger then argues that the love for the fair youth is allegorical. He argues that the poems have much more of a religious devotion and divine love than an earthly one, and the rest of the article provides a trove of evidence to support this position.
The article is useful for providing an alternative perspective about the fair youth that is not usually considered when studying Shakespeare’s sonnets.
“The Mysterious Identity of the ‘Fair Youth’” by Jessica May-Smith (2018)
In this short article, May-Smith first discusses the question of whether the sonnets are supposed to be romantic or platonic. She argues that at the beginning of the sonnet cycle, the poems appear to be platonic; however, as the sonnets progress, they become more romantic as Shakespeare begins to use time and eternity as themes through which he expresses his love.
May-Smith then runs through a few possible candidates for the fair youth, using the dedication at the beginning of the sonnets as a clue to the name of the person. Ultimately, though, May-Smith does not come to a conclusion about the identity of the fair youth; instead, she focuses on the beauty of the sonnets and their perseverance through time.
Listen to Poem
Award-winning actor James Earl Jones reads the poem in his iconic deep voice. Jones is most famous for being the voice of two famous movie characters: Darth Vader from Star Wars and Mufasa from The Lion King.
Related Titles
By William Shakespeare
