Ines Grgurinovi

Dr.Boris Beri

English literature from renaissance to neoclassicism

November 30,2006

THE DESTRUCTION OF TIME AND DEALING WITH IT

The time is relentless.Unstoppable.The thought of it is always present in

everyone's mind , while loving , hating, wanting and deciding.Burning desires and clear aims

hurry the time and the serenity of possessing something that we enjoy having , tries to slow it

down. Things fade and perish, giving ground to other things. There is a certain Shakespears's

reconcilement to the fact that everything , even beautiful things , comes to an end, except

when it comes to the beauty of the young man ,he writes about. That is the point where

Shakespeare starts fighting the destruction of time, or even more precise- finds different ways

to deal with it. However, the time is an unbeatable force and it is up to the poet to keep a

precious moment alive , using his own ingenuity.

The beauty changes its image (And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white,sonnet

12,line 4 ;To change your day of youth to sullied night,15,12) and fades ( And every fair

from fair sometime declines,18,7) ; the brave days turn into hideous nights , lovely and

pleasant seasons pass fastly (Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May ;And
summers lease hath all too short a date,18,3/4) , and fruits of the earth have brief duration

(Vaunt in their youthful sap,at height increase/And wear their brave state out of

memory,15,7/8).Shakespeare has a reconciliation with the destruction of time.(And do

whate 'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,19,6).

Time rules above all the things, leaves them behind , having a fierce pride and does not turn

back.It is a bit of a friend and a bit of an enemy, brings us good and bad things (Make

good and bad seasons,19,5). It is only hard for people to accept that things we wish to last,

come to an end always too soon (And summer's lease hath all too short a

date,18,4;When I consider every thing that grows/Holds in perfection but a little

moment,15,1/2).But, however, nobody tries to fight it, because it is absolutely impossible to

win the battle. And, after all, except the times it makes us angry, because it takes away

something that we want to keep for ourselves, in some other cases, the time helps us to forget,

to get used to and to feel the rays of sunlight on our skin.

In these sonnets , Shakespeare mostly looks at the time as a destroyer, an unpleasant force

(Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay/To change your day of youth to sullied

night15,11/12 ;Devouring Time,blunt the lions paws/And make the earth devour her

own broad/Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws19,1/2/3 ;And nothin 'gainst

Time's scythe can make defence12,13).As I said before , he declares a war against it, as it

takes the beauty away from the person he loves (15:And all in war with Time for love of

you). All in all, I believe that Shakespeare is angry with Time.

So, he decided to find a way to deal with it and make sure the young man's beauty

remains noted and goes down in history.His poetry is the key to that: (So long as men

can breathe or eyes can see/So long lives this an this gives life to thee 18,13/14; And all in
war with Time for love of you,/ As he takes from you, I engraft you new 15,13,14; My

love shall in my verse live young19,14). He wants the future generations to know of this

man's beauty (For beauty's pattern to succeeding men19,12).

There are moments when he forbids the time to destroy this beauty(But i forbid thee19,8)

and other moments when he shouts aloud wit a note of veneration ( O, crave not with

antique pen ; in thy course untained to allow19,9,10).

Furthermore, the other way to deal with the destruction is reproduction .To put in

words and save through his peotry is all that Shakespeare could do about preventing the

precious to disappear. But, he makes helpful and practical suggestions to the young man

(Now is the time that face should form another ;Whose repair if now thou not

renewest3,2/3) . Shakespeare wants him to think about having a child, that would look like

him.(Thou art thy mothe's glass and she in thee3,9). Also , the young man should avoid

growin old single, having no one to help him remember his own youth (So thou through

windows of time3,11).

Finally, I find Shakespear's fears justified, All human beings function in a similar way.

We fall in love, fight for it and try to protect it, we find our lovers the most beautiful in the

world, fine examples for everyone to see. If lucky , we live to to experience our youth and the

lost of it . None of us wants to grow old alone and forgotten. And , after all, I think the most

valuable gift we could give to the world and the basic aim to achieve is to give life to a good

idea or to a child, so it could continue what we started. And if we are artists, like

Shakespeare, we are free to stop the time, at least in our own funny way.