|
Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding this poem better? If they are accepted, they will be added to this page of Poetry Connection. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.
Do not post questions, pleas for homework help or anything of the sort, as these types of comments will be removed. The proper place for questions is the poetry forum. Also, please do not post any links what so ever.
Please note that after you post a comment, it can take up to an hour before it is visible on the website! Rest assured that your comment is not lost, so don't enter your comment again.
|
Copyright © 2003-2008 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
This may well be Shakespeare's best sonnet.
It speaks of the great and dark truth about the human predicament. It is not how well we start, (tall blonde, cute, innocent etc...)but what we become that matters, that defines us. In the old joke:
To be is to do - Plato
To do is to be - Aristotle
Do be do be do - Frank Sinatra
It is Aristotle who we should listen to.
So, here in this sonnet is advice about how important it is to understand that it is what we do that defines us. Beauty is the opposite of skin deep - something that anyone who have fallen for a pretty psychopath can surely attest to.
My crystal ball tells me that Shakespeare is writing from direct and heartfelt experience here. Without a tardis, we will not ever know for certain. I highly recommend "A Portrait of Mr W.H." by Oscar Wilde for a startlingly clairvoyant insight into Shakespeare's inspiration for his sonnets.
Stephen Kennedy from Australia