Comparing Shakespeares Sonnet 55 & 65

Sonnet 55 and 65 are two of a collection of 154 sonnets written

by William Shakespeare. They are two very similar poems that still
have quite a few differences to them. The theme for both of the poems
is undoubtedly the ravaging of time that can only be avoided through
the immortality of his writing. Sonnet 55 is very optimistic and
triumphant, while sonnet 65 is much more bleak and grim. However
they seem to highlight Shakespeares current thoughts and feelings on
the future.
Sonnet 55 expresses the feeling that it is powerful enough to
outlive statues and stone as well as kings and queens. It moves on to
talk about a beloved someone who will live on in Shakespeares writing
through wars, and even against the sword of Mars. He will shine
bright in the eyes of the generations to come, the generations that will
eventually wear the world down to its demise. It predicts that the
beloved someone will be resurrected during the apocalypse, but until
then he will gather much admiration and attraction from many people.
Sonnet 65 focuses at first on questioning how beauty can resist
the ravages of time, when brass and stone cant hold up against it and
are destroyed. It compares beauty to the strength of a flower, and
gives it no hope of lasting against the crumbling impregnable rocks
or weakening gates of steel. Beauty is a victim trapped in Times

case forever with no hope of escape, unless the ink of this poem is
enough to reflect the beauty through the ages and elude times
annihilation.
Both these sonnets express very similar feelings to the reader in
an eloquent fashion. They both make a point of how they will
eventually shine through time and will outlast stone, brass and other
substantial forms. At the end of both, they cast a sense of hope and
triumph for the reader. In this way they are very similar poems,
however I find that they are even more different than similar. The tone
of the two poems is certainly contrasting. Sonnet 55 is very strong, and
sure, with never a doubt that it will be read in the centuries to come
shown with words like outlive, shine, and arise. It is positive that
its beloved will shine in the eyes of many people, and will outlive
everything. As for sonnet 65, there is a more dismal feel to it. The
sonnet is never really sure of anything, and casts confusion and
negativity that disheartens the reader with words such as sad
mortality, battring, and decays. Up until the end, it does not cast
any hope that the beauty will last longer than that of a flower.
Overall the two poems are quite similar, with one being glorious
and the other depressing. The fact that both these sonnets are
essentially about everything succumbing to the wrath of time is
interesting. It has led me to believe that perhaps these sonnets were
written in a period of when Shakespeare was having an existential

crisis. It is as if these two poems are of the same idea, but total
opposites, like two sides of the same coin. Maybe Shakespeare was
thinking about his death, and needed to express both his hopes and
fears about the future. Either way he has most definitely left his mark
on the world, which will last longer than all our lifetimes.