Sonnet 54

O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem

By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odor which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumd tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly,
When summers breath their maskd buds discloses;
But for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwooed, and unrespected fade,
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odors made;
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth;
When that shall vade, my verse distills your truth.

In Sonnet 54, a beauty so deep and pure could only be discovered through
oneself: honesty and truth is the only way one could achieve beauty that never dies out.
William Shakespeares use of over exaggerated imagery and understanding of beauty
in comparison to a rose reveals the compassion the poet has toward inner beauty. The
powerful context in the lines- youth, beauteous, vade, death, truth, and the
simile the canker blooms have full as deep a dye as the perfumed tincture of the
roses- resembles such passion in beauty and those few words linger in our brains.
These few forceful words resemble that the prettiest roses could smell the worst and the
ugliest smell the best, referring to mortal beauty doesnt compare to ones personal
emotional beauty. The poet emphasis the idea of beauty fading by introducing a thought
of death, as one grows older they also get less attractive to the eye. Unfortunately,
Shakespeare and his mistress are in times hands, as time goes by their beauty fades.
By as time flies by the poet, Shakespeare, reveals the truth within beauty which is that it
comes from the inside. Unlike the moral of the poem the beauty in Shakespeares words
never fade, the readers are left with the idea of beauty making the words linger in our
minds so that when we might die out our beauty wont. Shakespeares words are left at
the tips of tongues and remain in our hearts and minds. The poets words echo to all
humanity making people thrive in order to achieve long lasting beauty.

Petals of Beauty
How much beauty does one unmask and reveal?

Only truth lies in the cold blossoms of

roses. Only lovely sweet scents could heal
sores that sit on the petals like a dove.
The unmasking of a rose with colors
Deep as blood can only show the lovely,
beauteous truth by which is surely bestowed,
Petals of beauty, ruined by ugly
And monstrous scents that fill roses blooms.
As the roses sink slowly, weakening;
Ones with no beauty remain smelling as
Sweet as those with no beauty for seeking.
Beauty is what life consists of, it seems,
But as one grows none will be left to redeem.