Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)

A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 4. 2017

Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; (Oct-Dec)
Email:editorrjelal@gmail.com ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)

RESEARCH ARTICLE

TREATMENT OF TIME IN SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

ISHFAQ HUSSAIN BHAT

Ex Student, Department of English, University of Kashmir, Thune, Kangan, Ganderbal, Jammu and
Kashmir.
Eshfaqbhat786@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
William Shakespeare occupies a central and unique position in the world literature.
His works earned him an international acclaim and acceptance as the best
playwright in the history of English literature. Shakespeare’s Sonnets have become
very popular with the passage of time. His sonnets deal with themes like, time, love,
beauty, mortality, rivalry, procreation, etc. However, time and its destruction is the
most predominant theme of his Sonnets. Throughout the Sonnets, Shakespeare
portrays Time as a destructive force that destroys everything, even the strongest
things decay with the passage of time. Shakespeare states that there is no power
that can arrest the fleeting course of Time and, thus, stop it from destruction. The
paper focuses on the theme of Time in Shakespeare’s Sonnets and also tries to
suggest some ways to defy the “swift-footed” Time.
Keywords: Time, beauty, marriage, love, destruction, mortality, immortality.

“So long as amen can breathe or eyes can see, Shakespeare’s Sonnets comprise a
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” collection of 154 poems replete with themes like
(Sonnet 18, line 13-14) love, beauty, mortality, time and its destructiveness.
Background Scholars have classified these Sonnets into three
“Elizabethan mind was much influenced by categories. Sonnet 1-126 are addressed to a young
the philosophy of Plato who assured it that there man, the Fair Youth; 126-152 to a mysterious lady
was a permanent and eternal Being which was the probably, Shakespeare’s mistress, popularly known
reality; on the other hand, the change, mutability, as the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s Sonnets; and the
was only phenomenal, illusory and unreal. The last two sonnets are fairly free adaptations of two
daimonic Plato told the Elizabethan poets of the classical Greek poems. The Sonnets addressed to the
permanence, but they saw only mutability all Fair Youth have further been divided on the basis of
around. Therefore, they questioned themselves: the recurring theme: the poet urging his friend to
could mutable things be mad eternal? And they marry and have children. These sonnets are 17 in
found the answer: only in art could beings be number and have been classified as Procreation
eternal…Shakespeare was also certainly and Sonnets. In these sonnets, the poet urges his friend
morbidly aware of the destructiveness of Time. In to marry and have children, thereby passing on his
Sonnets 12, 15-19, 39, 60, 63-65, 100, 115-116, 123- exceptional beauty to the coming generations.
124 and 126, and some other sonnets, he has Sonnets 18-126 express poet’s love for the Fair
expressed his utter concern over the corroding Youth.
action of Time over the beauty of his friend, the Fair G. W. Knight found that Time and Death are
Youth.” (Sarkar, 78-79) recurrent themes both of the plays and the Sonnets

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Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)
A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 4. 2017
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; (Oct-Dec)
Email:editorrjelal@gmail.com ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
of Shakespeare. In his The Mutual Flame, Knight Then of thy beauty do I question make,
wrote: ‘The Sonnets approach time in the manner of That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Troilus and Cressida, where…it is a recurring Since sweets and beauties do themselves
concept. Throughout Shakespeare’s later forsake
works…’Time’ and ‘Death’ are central problems, And die as fast as they see others grow;
pushing towards solution in Anthony and Cleopatra And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make
and the Final plays…This whole progress is defence
adumbrated in the Sonnets.” (Sarkar, 82) Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee
Shakespeare’s Sonnets are replete with the hence.”
theme of Time. As we go through the sonnets it Sunil Kumar Sarkar in his book Shakespeare’s
seems to us that the narrator is haughtily Sonnets comments on the theme of time in this
preoccupied with the passing of time and everything sonnet: “In this sonnet Shakespeare for the first
that it entails, including mortality, memory, time speaks of time. In all such sonnets, he mediates
inevitability, and change. He is distressed over such on the destructiveness of time. The present sonnet
things that he has no control over time, but still he is, as if, the prologue to all such sonnets. In the first
tries to conquer the time. At times it seems that the eight lines of the sonnet, the poet beautifully draws
speaker is fighting a futile battle against time itself. the images of the slow and imperceptible passage of
Shakespeare often personifies time. It is said that time…As the time passes, the greenness of the
time is the fourth character in his Sonnets. But the inchoate summer is not to be found any more,
Time is the great villain in Shakespeare’s Sonnets. because then the cultivators reap the corn and bind
Shakespeare describes time as “bloody tyrant” it into sheaves. And then these ‘girded’; sheaves are
(Sonnet 16), “devouring” and “swift-footed” (Sonnet carried home on carts, like a corpse is carried on a
19). And time will eventually rob the beauty of the bier – the corpse of an old man (‘with white and
young man. This treatment of time is prevalent bristly beard’) whose beard is white due to aging,
throughout the Sonnets, and it takes many forms, and whose hair is unkempt due to negligence. The
sometimes referring to the destructive power of poet says that there is no defence against the inroad
time in general, sometimes focusing on the effects of time, save only through one strategy; getting
1
of time on a specific character in the Sonnets. married and have issues. With all these instances,
SONNET 12 the poet tries to persuade the Fair Youth to get
Theme of the destructiveness of time gets married.” (Sarkar,145)
artistic manifestation in Sonnet 12. As this sonnet is SONNET 19
a part of the Procreation Sonnet sequence, the poet Sonnet 19 is one of the best sonnets
asks his friend to conquer time by getting married. written by Shakespeare. In this sonnet, Shakespeare
The poet comments on the sterility of bachelorhood again talks about the ravages of time. Shakespeare
and recommends marriage and children as a means expresses his intense fear of time. In the first
of immortality. The poet states that time destroys quatrain of the sonnet, the speaker chides Time,
everything, he gives various examples of the saying go ahead and do whatever it wishes: “blunt
destructiveness of time, “lofty trees barren of thou the lion’s paws,” (line 1) “make the earth
leaves,” “sable curls all silver’d with white.” devour her own sweet brood,” (line 2) “ pluck the
“When I do count the clock that tells the time, keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws,” (line 3) “and
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; burn the long-lived phoenix.” (line 4). He portrays
When I behold the violet past prime, time as destructive, which destroys the fiercest as
And sable curls all silver’d with white; well as the mildest things. Time spares none, even
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves the most dangerous and strongest creatures like
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, tiger, lion, etc cannot conquer time, and get
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves destroyed with the passage of time. He calls time
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, “swift-footed” (line 6). Since, the poet feels that it is

270 ISHFAQ HUSSAIN BHAT

Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)
A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 4. 2017
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; (Oct-Dec)
Email:editorrjelal@gmail.com ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
impossible to hold back Time, he encourages it to do urges his love to marry so that his beauty may
whatever it wishes: become immortal: “O, that you were yourself! But,
“Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets, love, you are / No longer yours than you yourself
And do whate’er thou wilt, swift-footed Time, here live: / Against this coming end you should
To the wide world and all her fading sweets.” prepare, /And your sweet semblance to some other
Since the poet is worried about the beauty of his give.”(line 1-4). And goes on to persuade his friend
friend and wants to preserve it, he forbids Time to by saying: “Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,/
touch the mortal beauty of his friend: “But I forbid Which husbandry in honour might uphold/ Against
thee one most heinous crime.” (line 8). He goes on the stormy gusts of winter’s day / And Barren rage
to command Time not to destroy the beauty of the of death’s eternal cold?” (line 9-12). And the
Fair Youth. He forbids it to carve and draw lines concluding couplet presents the resolution to the
(wrinkles) upon the forehead of his friend with its proposition: “O, none but unthrifts! Dear my love,
pen which is extremely destructive: “O carve not you know / You had a father: let your son say so.”
with thy hours my love’s fair brow/ Nor draw no (line 13-14). In this context, Ingram and Redpath
lines there with thine antique pen.” (lines 9-10). He comment:
demands that time should let go his love “Obscure at first sight through the
“untainted” and unharmed so that the coming apparently complex play on pronouns, this sonnet
generations would be able to appreciate the beauty becomes clearer when the continuity of the image is
of the Fair Youth: “Him in thy course untainted do apprehended. The ‘you’ of line 1 is either the body
allow/ For beauty’s pattern to succeeding men.” and its beauty, as opposed to the ‘self’ or soul, or
(lines 11-12). As the speaker realizes that it is the composite of soul and body. If the bodily beauty
impossible to stop time, he, therefore, confidently (or the composite) and the soul were identical, the
encourages Time to do whatever it wishes for he has former, like the latter, would be immortal.
eventually found a way to withstand the ravages of Shakespeare embodies what he considers the actual
time: “Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy relationship in the image of the eternal soul
wrong,/ My love shall in my verse ever live young.” inhabiting a temporal house (cf. line 9). As long as
(line 13-14). The poet has finally realized that it is the occupier remains heirless, this house is held on a
not possible to hold the “swift foot” of the Time lease determined by death. Provident economy
back, but he can conquer it by writing poetry. Like would not allow ‘so fair a house’ to fall into decay
many other poems of Shakespeare, this Sonnet through age and occupancy; but by ‘husbandry’ (line
claims that art is superior to real life. His poetry will 10, with an obvious play on the word) would
ensure the Fair Youth’s immortality. By writing these produce an heir who would maintain the house both
verses, not only will his love live forever, but he will during the friend’s (the Fair Youth’s) old age (line 11)
be eternally young and the “swift-footed,” and after his death (line 12). (Sarkar, 147)
“devouring,” and “bloody tyrant” Time will not SONNET 65
touch and destroy him. In this Sonnet, the poet admits the
Coleridge, acknowledging the merit of invincible power of time that destroys all and
Shakespeare’s Sonnets, states: “These sonnets, like triumphs over all. There is nothing in this world that
the Venus and Adonis, and the Rape of Lucrece, are can withstand the destructive onslaught of Time.
characterized by boundless fertility and laboured Time spares none and destroys everything
condensation of thought, with perfection of ruthlessly. The poet opens the sonnet by admitting
sweetness in rhythm and meter. These are the that even the strongest things are destroyed by the
essentials in building of a great poet.” (Sarkar, 116) “swift-footed” Time. The poet feels that there is no
SONNET 13 power that can arrest the fleeting course of time or
Sonnet 13 is another poem that deals with withstand its destructive onslaughts. He mentions
the theme of time. In this Sonnet the poet, due to many strong things which, despite having strength
the fear of death and destructive assault of Time, and vastness, are over-powered by “bloody tyrant”

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Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)
A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 4. 2017
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; (Oct-Dec)
Email:editorrjelal@gmail.com ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
time and get destroyed:“Since brass, nor stone, nor “If this be error and upon me prov’d,
earth, nor boundless sea,/But sad mortality o’er- I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.” (line 13-
sways their power (line 1-2) The poet goes on to say 14)
that since Time destroys everything, even the Thus the poet says that though Time is very
strongest things like brass, stone, earth and sea powerful and it spares none, true love can withstand
cannot overpower Time, how shall the more delicate its destructiveness like a pole star.
things like beauty survive?: “How with this rage shall Time is the most predominant theme is
beauty hold a plea,/ Whose action is no stronger most of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. In Sonnet 2, he
than a flower? / O, how shall summer’s honey urges his friend to marry and arrest the fleeting
breath hold out/ Against the wreckful siege of course of Time. Shakespeare here artistically
battering days,/ When rocks impregnable are not so portrays the destruction that time may cause to his
stout, / Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time friend’s beauty.: “When forty winters shall besiege
decays? / O fearful meditation! Where, alack, / Shall thy brow/ And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s
Time’s best jewel from Time’s chest lie hid? /Or field, / Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now, /
what strong hand can hold his swift foot back? / Or Will be a tatter’d weed, of small worth held.” (line 1-
who his spoil of beauty can forbid? (line 3-12) The 4). Sonnet 60 best illustrates the ravages of Time. It
poet says that time destroys even the strongest deals with the universal concern of time and its
things, even the impregnable rocks and the gates passing: “Like the waves make towards the pebbled
made of steel which symbolize strength, are not shore, / So do our minutes hasten to their end.”
strong enough to stand firm against the destructive (line 1-2). The poet goes on to say that Time both
power of Time. No one can stop the ever-moving gives the gift of life and eventually takes it away:
“swift foot” of Time. Until the last two lines of the “And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.”
poem, the poet’s tone seems to be pessimistic. But (line 8) In Sonnet 63 he uses expressions like “Time’s
in the closing couplet he again provides a solution. injurious hand,” (line 2) and “age’s cruel knife” (line
Since no one can arrest the fleeting course of time, 10) to highlight the destructiveness of Time. In
only a miracle can prevent Time from doing its work Sonnet 104, Shakespeare says: “To me, fair friend,
of destruction. It is through these sonnets that the you never can be old.” (line 1) .
delicate things like beauty can be preserved: “O, L. C. Knights states: “An essay might well be
none, unless this miracle have might, / That in black written on the Time theme in
ink my love may still shine bright.” (line 13-14) Shakespeare…Whenever we look, Shakespeare is
SONNET 116 concerned merely with the effects of Time on
In this sonnet, Shakespeare suggests animate and inanimate beings, persons and personal
another remedy for conquering Time. He says that relationships.” (Sarkar, 78)
love is “an ever-fixed mark” (line 5). Though beauty Thus Time is a recurring theme in
fades within Time’s “blending sickle’s compass,” Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Throughout the Sonnets,
(line 10) love does not change: “Love alters not with Shakespeare portrays the destructive assault of
his brief hours and weeks, / But bears it out even to Time. Time spares none, and even the strongest
the edge of doom.” (line 11-12) The poet is things are destroyed by “Time’s injurious hand”.
confident that Time is impotent to destroy love Impregnable rocks, steel gates, brass, earth, and
though it can destroy beauty. “rosy lips and cheeks” “boundless sea” all are overpowered by “swift-
(line 9) symbolize mortal beauty. Time’s sickle cuts footed” time. However, Shakespeare does suggest
them and thus destroys them. In the concluding some ways for people to defy Time. By urging the
couplet, he suggests a way to defy Time. He says Fair Youth to marry and have children, he suggests
that love lasts forever, and thus withstands the that his friend’s beauty can be appreciated by
ravages of time. He claims that if his statements can coming generations in the form of his children. Thus
be proved to be wrong, he must never have written having children is a way of arresting the fleeting
a word, and no man can ever have been in love: course of Time. According to Shakespeare, people

272 ISHFAQ HUSSAIN BHAT

Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)
A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 4. 2017
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; (Oct-Dec)
Email:editorrjelal@gmail.com ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
can also defy Time through love. The poet is
confident that though Time can destroy beauty, it
can never destroy love. Love can live forever and
Time is impotent to destroy it. Another way, and
the most remarkable way, of conquering Time is art:
throughout the Sonnets, Shakespeare claims that art
is superior to real/temporal life. Though his friend
may die, but he may live forever in the form of his
poetry. Shakespeare has certainly preserved the
beauty of his friend by writing Sonnets. Shakespeare
wrote the Sonnets some 400 years ago, but we still
read his sonnets and appreciate the beauty of his
friend.
References
Shakespeare, William. Sonnets. An Electronic
Classics Series Publication. 2013. PDF.
Sarkar, Sunil Kumar. Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Atlantic
Publishers. 2006. Print.
Schiffer, James. Shakespeare’s Sonnets Critical
Essays. Digital Printing. 2010. PDF
www.literary-articles.com/2009/12/shakespeare’s-
treatment-of-time-in-his.html?m=1

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