13 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2016
    1. But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.

      Shakespeare also says that "you" shall shine more bright in his sonnet than on a filthy ugly statue

    2. Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;

      I find it interesting that Shakespeare says that statues and other big monuments and other architecture will not outlive his work.

    3. 'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

      This is where the volta happens, the poem shifts from thoughts of war and decay and instead talk about someone moving beyond all of the war and deay

    4. enmity

      meaning opposition or odds

    5. 'Gainst

      a shortened version of against

    6. Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time

      This line means with the word sluttish means that the stones are blackened by something dirty (sluttish)

    7. Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room

      The stressed words are you, forth, praise, still, room and the unstressed words are Shall, pace, your, shall, find

    8. Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn

      The stressed syllables are Mars, sword, war's, fire, burn and the unstressed syllables are Nor, his, nor, quick, shall.

    9. besmear'd

      Besmear'd is a shortened version of besmeared which means to have been wiped with a slimy or greasy substance

    10. monuments

      The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is monuments (a) and contents (a), rhyme (b) and time(b), overturn (c) and burn (c), masonry (d) and memory (d), enmity (e) and posterity (e), room (f) and doom(f), and arise (g) and eyes (g)

    1. Next to stabbings and sword-fights, drowning is the second commonest means of death in his plays

      that is cool, didn't know that before

    2. To this day, American actors can better represent the sound of Shakespeare than their British counterparts.

      I didn't know that, that is really interesting how the American dialect is closer to Shakespeare's than a British dialect

    3. “One of the wonderful things about Shakespeare,” he says, “is that his plays are not exclusively a national possession. He can become an emblem of that which you might possess if you actually could not trace your roots to the Mayflower.”

      I like how he mentions the fact Shakespeare isn't only a British thing and that they are for anyone