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All things -- animals, plants, and humans -- grow old and die. What extends our mortality, as human beings, is in not just the biological creation of children, but to also have a culture in which the qualities / attributes / virtue of the parent, is passed on to, and reflected in the development of character in the child.

See also Brahms' composition "Nanie" (with an umlaut over the "a") which is a beautiful musical setting on the theme of "Even the Beautiful must die".

2007-01-01 12:35:57 · answer #1 · answered by Joya 5 · 0 0

Sonnet 12

2016-11-02 08:43:13 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

in the 12th Sonnet, Shakespeare is telling his love, that, when he considers nature, and how time changes the fields and the natural world, he considers that his love will change and grow old with time; the only way to defeat time, is to love, and to leave children when we inevitably end our lives as well.

Here is a "translation" of Shakespeare's 12th Sonnet, from a pretty good website, No Sweat Shakespeare .

http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/index.htm

It is always dangerous to simplify language as beautiful and poetic as Shakeseare's . It doesn't do it justice, and it is not just like translation from one foreign language to English. You lose a good bit of the beauty and importance in the choice of words and rhyme and meter. But, here goes:

"Sonnet 12 Translation
When I count the chimes of the clock and watch the bright day sunken into terrifying night; when I see violets fading, and black curls all silvered over with white; when I see tall trees which previously offered shade to sheep and cattle but now with no leaves; and the green crops of summer tied up in harvested sheaves covered with scratchy dried out leaves, carried away on a wagon; then I begin to think about the endurance of your beauty and that you will have to decline and decay like everything else, because sweet and beautiful things lose their sweetness and beauty and die while watching new sweet and beautiful things taking their place. The only defence against Time's scythe is to defy him when he takes you away, by having children."

2006-12-30 18:18:21 · answer #3 · answered by JOHN B 6 · 1 0

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