"so long as men can breathe or eyes can see
so long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
2007-01-24 23:24:02 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
So long as people can read this (the poem)
then the subject of the poem will live forever.
2007-01-24 23:29:01 · answer #1 · answered by jcboyle 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
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RE:
in the couplet of sonnet 18 by shakespeare, what does this couplet mean?
"so long as men can breathe or eyes can see
so long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
2015-08-12 22:10:15 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What Does Couplet Mean
2016-10-04 04:37:01 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This sonnet is all about the poet searching for a way to pay tribute to the beauty of his "love".
He laments at the pointlessness of comparing his love to anything in nature. Sure she is just as lovely however, Shakespeare observes that nature is fleeting (rough winds to shake the darling buds/...summer is far too short). He sees his love -and intrinsically her beauty - as far more "constant" than even the most beautiful thing in nature.
Therefore, what is there left to pay tribute to her beauty? Nothing earthly will do the job, however by immortalising the record of her beauty in a sonnet, then people will be able to read about it forevermore.
"so long as men can breathe or eyes can see
so long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
The final couplet is all about this realisation that, as long as people can read, they will be able to read the sonnet and know just how beautiful she was. Even after she is dead and buried.
2007-01-24 23:34:43 · answer #4 · answered by SnowBunny 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
hmm we did this in school so frm my notes it says.. Sonnets 1-17 tried to persuade the young man to have children, thus ensuring his beauty lasts forever. Sonnet 18 makes the bold claim that it is poetry that will make young man immortal. it makes the assertion that the mans 'loveliness' surpasses that of a summers day, lines 3-8 describe the brevity of summer in way that everything beautiful (fair) will eventually decay. lines 9-14 claim that verse will make certain that the mans beauty lives long as humanity itself. faith in the power of poetry is in contrast to the earlier sonnets. Sonnet 18 has been described as 'sincere and emotionally truthful' and 'boastful and over exaggerated' My notes kinda don't make sense even to me, but i hope that helped somehow :)
2016-03-14 13:56:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically, forever. As long as men are alive and able to read, his poem will live, which in turn gives life to the woman he has writtten about. In putting pen to paper he believes he has given her immortal life in a sense; as long as there are people capable of reading his poem, she will be remembered.
The link below gives a good analysis, summary and paraphrase of the sonnet.
2007-01-24 23:32:52 · answer #6 · answered by BasBleu 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋