“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to three.”-From where have the lines been taken? How does the speaker immortalise his friend?
The lines quotes above have been taken from William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.
The speaker from the beginning of the poem draws a comparison between his friend and a summer’s day. The poet writes that his friend is more lovely and more temperate than a summer’s day. A few lines later the poet remarks that as a natural process the beauty of every mortal on earth diminishes like the beauty of a summer day. But the poet’s friend cannot be touched upon by death because the poet will make him live forever. Though he might die physically, his beauty would live forever as the poet has captured his beauty in the lines of his poem. As long as men on this earth would exist and continue reading poetry, they would read this sonnet and sing in praise of the poet’s friend’s beauty. This is how the poet’s friend would be immortalised.
“… and this gives life to thee.”- What does this’ refer to? Who is referred to by ‘thee’? How does this’ give life?
‘This’ refers to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18. Thee’ refers to the poet’s friend whose everlasting beauty is the theme of this sonnet. In this mortal world, every object is vulnerable to decay and loss. The inevitable ravage of time devours all the elements of nature. So, beauty can never be preserved unless it is depicted in the lines of poetry. The poet is prompted to think that his verse possesses the power to eternalise his friend’s beauty. As long as human beings live and love to read, this very sonnet written in praise of his friend will remain to celebrate his friend’s beauty. Thus his friend’s beauty will be eternalised and his friend will live forever and shine through his poem.