Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 with Shelley's Ozymandias

Task: Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 with Shelley's Ozymandias Both of these Sonnets have been written to show the effect that time has on everything in this world. Though each of these sonnets have been written about completely unrelated subjects, they still both portray the message that everything changes with time. On writing about mutability, Shakespeare has used nature and human life as the basis for his sonnet and the reader is told of how the passage of time changes everything beautiful to destruction. Shakespeare begins his sonnet by giving an obvious example of mutability, describing the daily process of when day turns into night, taking away the brightness and joyfulness of the day, and leaving the world in the brutal darkness of night: "And see the brave day sunk in hideous night." He also gives the example of youths losing their beauty and appeal as they age; "And sable curls, all silver'd o'er with white." This line describes a young man or woman growing up, and how their black curls have turned silvery with age. The first eight lines of the sonnet, describe and give many examples of the destruction that time has on the beauty of nature. In the next quatrain, Shakespeare has come to the conclusion that everything in the world eventually loses its splendour and beauty and will die. "Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, And die as fast

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  • Word count: 1154
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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