Sonnet 55 by william shakespeare summary biography

What's he saying?

"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments / Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;"

Statues and monuments will not last as long as this poem;

"But you shall shine more bright in these contents / Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time."

And you will last longer, immortalized in this poem, than the stone statues and monuments, which will fade and become dusty over time.

"When wasteful war shall statues overturn, / And broils root out the work of masonry,"

War and other disturbances will destroy statues and monuments,

"Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn / The living record of your memory."

But poetry, which memorializes you, cannot be destroyed by these means.

"'Gainst death, and all oblivious enmity / Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room"

You shall outlast death and all other forces that seek to destroy things

"Even in the ey