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Summary To me, fair friend, you can never be old - Shakespeare
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In depth summary of To me, fair friend, you can never be old by Shakespeare IEB 2024
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The speaker addresses afair friend, expressing that
they will never seem old to
him.
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
He remarks that the
friend's beauty appears
unchanged since the first
time they met. For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
The phrase "Three winters
cold have from the forests
shook three summers'
pride" signifies the Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
passage of three years.
Despite these three
years, the friend's
beauty remains as Have from the forests shook three summers' pride, The poet reflects on
vibrant and fresh the passage of three
as it was initially. years, noting the
transition of three
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned beautiful springs into
autumn.
This signifies the
natural cycle of life
"Steal from his figure,
and no pace perceived" In process of the seasons have I seen, and the inevitability of
change over time.
suggests that time He observes that three
moves so subtly that its Aprils, with their fresh
effects are almost scents, have given way
imperceptible. Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned, to the heat of three
The comparison implies Junes.
that the beloved's Despite these seasonal
beauty appears changes, the beloved's
unchanged, though time Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green. beauty has remained as
is constantly at work. fresh and vibrant as
"So your sweet hue, when he first saw
which methinks still doth them.
stand" reinforces the
idea that the beloved's
Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand, The poet likens beauty
to the hand of a clock,
appearance seems suggesting that it
unaffected by time. moves imperceptibly,
"Hath motion, and mine reinforcing the idea
eye may be deceived"
acknowledges that Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived; that the beloved's
appearance seems
change is happening, even unaffected by time.
if it goes unnoticed by
the observer.
The speaker expresses a So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
concern that their
perception might be
flawed due to the
subtlety of time's Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
effects.
The final line, "Ere you
were born was beauty's
summer dead,"
poignantly states that
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred, -
true beauty was at its
peak before the younger
generation even existed,
emphasizing the
timelessness and
Ere you were born was beauty's summer dead.
surpassing nature of the
beloved's beauty.
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