Having trouble writing a Shakespeare essay...

[conflagrations]

Hello all,

I'm having alot of difficulty writing an essay about sonnet 55. This is all I have so far:

"In Sonnet 55, Shakespeare perpetuates the memory his subject through his verse, because poetry, being superior to any chiseled stone, is the only way to achieve immortality. His poem and its subject shall thrive through the greatest cataclysms, finding praise in the eyes of the reader until the inevitable coming of Judgment Day."

its bad...really bad. Is that enough for an intro? is that too much? do u kno anything about the sonnet that you would like to tell me? and suggestions on the next paragrahs?

i REALLY dont kno wat to doooo....

[Spherical Time]

Depends on what your class is about.

Looking at 55:


Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes.I'd at least mention that it's a love poem and that the intent is to venerate the person that it's addressed to in the introduction of your paper. What you have so far doesn't seem to be about the point of the poem but rather just one of the devices that Shakespeare uses further the theme.

One of the ways to understand poetry is to rewrite it line by line to understand the intent. I'd suggest trying to do that. That will probably give you some ideas on how continue your paper.

Love that line about sluttish time, incidentally.