One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise."
"Not so," quod I, "let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name,
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
1. In Sonnet 75, is the main focus, or theme, love or poetry? Why?
2.How does the speaker's beloved respond to what happened? What do you think she means by what she says?
3.How does the speaker answer his loved one? How does his views about immortality differ from hers?Support your answer with details from the poem.
4.What does the end of the sonnet suggest about the power of poetry?
5.In your opinion, whom has time proved to be more correct, the speaker or the women? Why?
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise."
"Not so," quod I, "let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name,
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
1. In Sonnet 75, is the main focus, or theme, love or poetry? Why?
2.How does the speaker's beloved respond to what happened? What do you think she means by what she says?
3.How does the speaker answer his loved one? How does his views about immortality differ from hers?Support your answer with details from the poem.
4.What does the end of the sonnet suggest about the power of poetry?
5.In your opinion, whom has time proved to be more correct, the speaker or the women? Why?