Summary
Summary To me fair friend IEB Poem
- Course
- English Home Language
- Institution
- 12th Grade
In depth line by line analysis of To me fair friend (Sonnet 104) by Shakespeare
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Sonnet 104To me, fair friend, you can never be old - Shakespeare
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.
Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred, -
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead.
, Analysis
The speaker asserts that their 'fair' friend, the subject of the sonnet, has managed to
preserve their beauty. Despite the passage of three years and the natural cycles of life
and death represented by the changing seasons, the subject of the poem remains
perpetually 'youthful' and 'vibrant'.
"Sonnet 104" belongs to the Elizabethan sonnet tradition, characterized by its division into
three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. This structure is indicative of the
Shakespearean or English sonnet form. In contrast to the Petrarchan or Italian form, which
typically introduces and complicates a theme in the octave before resolving it in the sestet,
a Shakespearean sonnet employs its three quatrains to develop a theme progressively, with
the final two lines offering a novel perspective on the subject.
This poem consistently adheres to a rhyme scheme represented as ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and
maintains a rhythmic pattern of iambic pentameter.
Shakespeare The notion of the speaker's friend defying the
1. To me, fair friend, you never can be effects of time and maintaining their beauty is
elaborated in the first and second quatrains of the
old, poem.
2. For as you were when first your The speaker conveys that despite the passage of
three years, their friend's beauty has endured, as
eye I eyed, evident in the line, "as you were when first your
eye I eyed." This line does suggest a heightened
assonance: repetition of vowels close level of intimacy, affection, or attraction. It
together implies a deep and lasting appreciation for the
friend's beauty, as if the memory of that initial
encounter remains vivid and captivating. The use of
"your eye I eyed" suggests a personal connection
and an intimate gaze, hinting at a strong bond or
affection between the speaker and the friend.
In the first two quatrains, the poem employs the
metaphor of the changing seasons to symbolize
his fair friend is still as beautiful as when they
the inexorable passage of time, demonstrating the
first met
cyclical nature of life. It illustrates how life
3. Such seems your beauty still. Three follows a pattern of birth, growth, decline, and
eventual renewal, mirroring the natural cycles
winters cold found in nature itself. Life leads to death, and from
that death, new life emerges. However, in stark
contrast to this natural order, the subject of the
poem is depicted as immune to the typical effects
of time and aging, as indicated by their resistance
to turning 'yellow in autumn' and enduring through
'three hot Junes.'
Indeed, the theme presented in the first quatrain
very blustery conditions with heavy winds emphasizes the enduring beauty of the speaker's
4. Have from the forests shook three 'fair friend.' If we interpret the 'fair friend' as a
person, it suggests that this individual will never
summers’ pride, succumb to the effects of old age. Their beauty
will remain undiminished and timeless.
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