About the poem:-

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments (Sonnet 55) is one of the 154 sonnets published in 1609 by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is included in what is referred to as the Fair Youth sequence.

A famous sonnet which rings changes on the theme celebrated by Horace -
Exegi monumentum aere perennius
(I have built a monument more lasting than bronze...)
but here given a new meaning in that it is the loved one who is immortalised, rather than the poet. The poet is himself only the instrument to accomplish this end and he humbly celebrates the glory of the youth.



Yet on a secondary level we do not read the poem in that way at all, for we are well aware that the words survive far longer than any memory of the youth, whose face and name we do not even know. The striking images of crumbling stone and violent war etch themselves into our minds and in the midst of this waste and decay we realise that if anything will survive it will be the poet's words, and both he and the loved one will be swept away into oblivion. Immortality of sorts is thus achieved for the poem, but for nothing else unless it be for the love which dwells in lovers eyes.

The sonnet shares its theme with that of several others, 18, 19, 65, 81, 107, 123, which oppose the power of verse to death and Time's cruel knife, and promise immortality to the beloved. Curiously enough, it does not seem to make any difference that the verse immortalises the youth without revealing him, for the very fact of immortality seems to confer anonymity. The concluding couplet seems to be entirely satisfying, and we do not need to press furhter enquiries on the poet and demand to know who it is to whom eternal life is given. It is enough that he lives in lovers' eyes, for they comprehend all mysteries, and perhaps, on the last day, at the ending doom, we will know all the answers anyway, and realise that they were not all that important.

About the poet:-

William Shakespeare, Shakespeare also spelled Shakspere, byname Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon, (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England—died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon), English poet, dramatist, and actor, often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.

Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have transcended national barriers; but no writer’s living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare, whose plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small repertory theatre, are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before. The prophecy of his great contemporary, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson, that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time,” has been fulfilled.

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Animated on:-
Autodesk Maya 2018

Edited on:-
Vegas Pro 15.0

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