Sonnet 60 Time Quotes

The speaker begins the poem by calling our attention to the passage of time, and how everything that happens must… stop happening at some point or another. This idea is doubly emphasized, both by the word "end" in line 2, but also more concretely in the image of the "pebbled shore" where the waves crash and shatter at the end of their long march toward land.

Here, in the next two lines of the poem, the speaker brings in another idea: that time only flows (so to speak) in one direction. This idea becomes especially powerful in line 4, with its emphasis on the hard work ("toil") and struggle ("do contend") involved as the waves—and minutes—make their way relentlessly forward. We'd almost feel sorry for time, if it weren't messing with our youthful beauty.

In the middle of Line 6, everything turns on a dime—or rather, turns on the word "wherewith." By taking us from the glory of the sun to its downfall so swiftly in the middle of a line, Shakespeare reminds us of that notion of the waves "each changing place with that which goes before" from Line 3. Things can change in the blink of an eye, Shmoopers. It's best to keep that in mind.

As we've talked about elsewhere in this module, this line contains a Biblical echo of Job 1:21. By deleting the reference to the Lord and making the phrase about time, Shakespeare takes away the religious context and replaces it with a naturalistic one. In the process, you could say that he takes away all hope of an afterlife waiting at the end of time. Still, Shakespeare's speaker is willing to give time credit for being the one who "gave." This won't last for long, though, so stay tuned.

Shakespeare's speaker is no longer giving time any credit—except for destructive power, that is. Now he thinks that absolutely everything—well, everything that "stands" at least—will be destroyed by time. Gee, aren't we pessimistic?

In the closing couplet of the poem, we can see that the speaker isn't quite ready to give up. He's hopeful, though not confident, that his poetry will last into the future, and thus continue to praise the object of his affections. This doesn't mean that he thinks the "verse" will last forever, of course. In fact, you can almost interpret the reference to time's "cruel hand" as a kind of ominous "To be continued…" message. And if he's leaving the door open for a sequel, that doesn't necessarily mean good things to come.