Sonnet · Fair Youth Sonnets

Sonnet 55

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;

But you shall shine more bright in these contents

Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.

When wasteful war shall statues overturn,

And broils root out the work of masonry,

Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burn

The living record of your memory.

’Gainst death, and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room

Even in the eyes of all posterity

That wear this world out to the ending doom.

So, till the judgement that yourself arise,

You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.

What it's about

A poet makes the oldest claim in the book: that verse outlasts stone. This sonnet promises the young man that the poem itself—not any physical monument—will preserve his name and beauty forever. It's part reassurance, part boast about poetry's power.

In plain English

Marble tombs and gold monuments built for princes won't last as long as this poem. You'll shine brighter in these lines than any stone worn away by time's neglect. War will destroy statues and tear down masonry, but neither weapons nor fire can erase the living memory I've written of you.

Against death and the force that makes everything forgotten, you will endure. Your praise will survive all the way to the end of the world, living on in the eyes of future generations. Until the final judgment day arrives, you exist here in these verses—and you live on in the hearts of anyone who loves you.

Lines that stick

  • Not marble, nor the gilded monuments / Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme
  • So, till the judgement that yourself arise, / You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes

Themes

  • immortality
  • poetry
  • beauty
  • time
  • memory
In the app

Tap any word to see it explained.

The Fluid Shakespeare app surfaces the glossary inline as you read — no popup, no flow break.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play