How does Shakespeare present the passage of time in the sonnets?
Things to consider: Shakespeare’s views on mortality and on the need to procreate or create a ‘living record’ of ones memory. Shakespeare’s stance towards the young man who fails to procreate. Imagery of aging, death and decay and the tone established through the use of this imagery. How ambiguity is deployed to contribute to stance and tone. Shakespeare portrays the passage of time predominantly as a negative force that inflicts detrimental effects on one’s appearances, and ultimately leads to death, decay and doom. However, he believes that people can defeat time by producing offspring to inherit their beauty. He also suggests that time and death can be conquered through writing poetry, and immortality can be achieved through living a life of spiritual fulfillment. The theme of the passage of time is presented negatively in the sonnets as can be seen from how they illustrate how beauty will be taken away as time goes by. In sonnet 2, it is said that the passage of time and the coming
