These notes come from myself, who passed matric of 2023 with an overall average of 87% in each subject i took.
A detailed summary of the poem "To me, fair friend" (also known as Sonnet 104) for the IEB English exam
Poetry - To me, fair friend, you can never be old
Monday, 30 January 2023 13:41
To me, fair friend, you can never be old
Biographical information: Shakespeare
- Born in an English town known as Stratford-upon-Avon
- At 18 he married Anna Hathaway (26)
- Was a rushed marriage because she was married with his child
- Had 3 children; Suzanna, Judith and Hamnet (twins)
- He was known for writing 38 plays, 2 narrative poems and 154 sonnets
- He continues to be one of the most important figures in language and literature
Meaning and message
- The months or seasons are the symbols of the inevitable passing of time and therefore the constant changing and
fading of beauty
- Just as time will always move forward with the hands or dials of a clock, beauty will slowly change overtime
- Memory is what remains of love and beauty long after time erodes beauty and life
Imagery
- This poem deals with the senses
- Sight: Describing friends appearance
- Smell: April perfumes (line 7)
- Feel: Feel seasons (winter, summer etc.)
Structure
- Shakespearean sonnet
- Made up of 3 Quatrains (explore and unfolded the key concerns of the poem; time passing and beauty fading)
- Rhyming cuplet (last 2 lines of the poem)
- Address to new and future generations warning them that beauty fades with time
- Regular structure
- Set rhyme scheme and set rhythm: Iambic pentameter (every line is made up of 10 syllables)
- Creates a predictable order
- Emphasises that the speaker is certain about what he knows: time passes and beauty fades
- Poem is an address to a young man who we assume is a good friend
- The actions used to describe one season or month replacing one another are harsh
- Shaking
- Burning
- Shook
- The passing of time is a powerful force - its inevitable (destructive in this poem)
English Page 1
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