Like as The Waves by William Shakespeare (Poem & Summary)

 

Like as The Waves

by William Shakespeare

(Poem & Summary) 

William Shakespeare was an artist of the Elizabethan age. This age is also known as ‘The age of Shakespeare’. The general characteristics of the age are: -

•   High conception of poetry

•   The spirit of independence

•   Varied poetical forms: - love poetry, patriotic poems, philosophical poetry and satirical poems.

Shakespeare was born in 1564. His age was the golden age of songs and lyrics. He wrote plays, poems, sonnets and essays.

Like as the waves

(Sonnet No. 60)

Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end;

Each changing place with that which goes before,

In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

 

Nativity, once in the main of light,

Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,

Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,

And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.

 

Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth

And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,

Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,

And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:

 

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,

Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

In the sonnet ‘Like as the waves’ the poet gives homage to his friend, who is now no more. He talks about the immortality of his that poetry, which praises the worth of his dear friend.

With a simile of waves, the poet tries to say that our moments are rushing towards their end. In the next quatrain the poet tries to prove the supremacy of the time. He further proves, that the time is the mightiest in the nature. In the couplet he gives just the opposite thought of that of the three quatrains. He says,

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,

Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

In the sonnet the poet proves the immortality of his that poetry which praises the worth of his friend. He says that as the waves rush towards the pebbled shore, similarly our time hastens towards its end. The poet says, that in a sequent toil, all our minutes satisfy themselves by coming into present time. The poet says, that the time of birth, which is the time of festivity crawls to the time of maturity and is being crowned with glory. It is the time, when adverse conditions start fighting against its glory. He further develops the same thought in the last quatrain and says, that the time paralyses the flourishing beauty of youth and also put wrinkles in beauty’s brows. He says, that the time leaves nothing and nobody. It even eats up the rarities of nature. He wants to say that the time is the mightiest and nothing stands for his scythe to mow.

In the couplet, Shakespeare proves the supremacy of his poetry over the mighty time, but that poetry, which sings the worth of his dear friend, such poetry surpasses the cruel time.

The poem ‘Like as the waves’ is a Shakespearean sonnet. It is divided into two main parts, first of three quatrains and second of a couplet. The rhyming pattern is ab, ab, cd, cd, ef, ef and gg. The poet takes the help of similes and imageries when he says “Like as the waves” etc. he personifies the time, nativity, maturity and crooked eclipses. The sonnet is full of adjectives.