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Sonnet 65
By William Shakespeare 

Read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 65, ‘Since

brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor
boundless sea,’ with a summary and
complete analysis of the poem.

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William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare is considered to

be one of the most important English-
language writers.

His plays and poems are read all over

the world.

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Poem Analyzed by Emma Baldwin

B.A. English (Minor: Creative Writing), B.F.A.
Fine Art, B.A. Art Histories

‘Sonnet 65,’ also known as ‘Since brass,

nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless
sea,’ is number sixty-five of one hundred
fifty-four sonnets that Shakespeare wrote
over his lifetime. It is part of the Bard’s
famous Fair Youth sequence of sonnets,
which last from number one all the way
through one hundred twenty-six.

These sonnets are devoted to a young,

beautiful man whose identity remains
unknown to this day. There has been a
great deal of speculation about who this
young man could possibly be, but no
single identity has ever been decided
upon. There are some who believe that
Shakespeare only wrote these poems on
commission, some that he was adopting a
persona while writing, and others who
believe that he is the “speaker” in the
poems and truly had a relationship,
whether platonic or romantic with the Fair
Youth.

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Lines

Meter Rhyme

Sonnet 65
William Shakespeare

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor

A
boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power, B
How with this rage shall beauty hold a
A
plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a
B
flower?
O! how shall summer's honey breath hold
C
out,
Against the wrackful siege of battering
D
days,
When rocks impregnable are not so
C
stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong but Time
D
decays?
O fearful meditation! where, alack, E
Shall Time's best jewel from Time's
F
chest lie hid?
Or what strong hand can hold his swift
E
foot back?
Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid? F
O! none, unless this miracle have
G
might,
That in black ink my love may still shine
G
bright.

Explore Sonnet 65
1 Summary

2 Structure

3 Poetic Techniques

4 Detailed Analysis

Summary

‘Sonnet 65’ by William Shakespeare

is one of several poems that
discusses time, aging, and what
writing can and cannot do to fight
against these forces.

The poem is not addressed to “thee” or

“you” as the majority of Shakespeare’s
sonnets are. Rather, the lines of ‘Sonnet
65’ refer obliquely to the Fair Youth and
the impact that time is going to have on
him. The speaker racks his brain for
anyone or anything that’s been able to
resist time and he can’t think of anything.
The only way that the youth can possibly
survive is to live within the poet’s
writings.

Structure
‘Sonnet 65’ by William Shakespeare is a
fourteen-line poem that is contained
within one stanza, in the form that has
become synonymous with the poet’s
name. The English or Shakespearean
sonnet (sometimes also known as the
Elizabethan) is made up of three
quatrains, or sets of four lines, and one
concluding couplet, or set of two rhyming
lines. The poem follows a consistent
rhyme scheme that conforms to the
pattern of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and it is
written in iambic pentameter.

Iambic pentameter means that each line

contains five sets of two beats, known as
metrical feet. The first is unstressed and
the second stressed. It sounds something
like da-DUM, da-DUM. As is common in
Shakespeare’s poems, the last two lines
are a rhyming pair, known as a couplet.
They often bring with them a turn or volta
in the poem. They’re sometimes used to
answer a question posed in the previous
twelve lines, shift the perspective, or even
change speakers.

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405 125
Sonnet 60 by Sonnet 87 by Sonnet 8
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William S

Poetic Techniques
Shakespeare makes use of several poetic
techniques in ‘Sonnet 65’. These include
but are not limited to alliteration,
metaphor, and personification. The first
of these, alliteration, occurs when words
are used in succession, or at least appear
close together, and begin with the same
sound. For example, “power” and “plea”
in lines two and three as well as breath”
and “batt’ring”. (The latter is also an
example of syncope.)

A metaphor is a comparison between two

unlike things that does not use “like” or
“as” is also present in the text. When
using this technique a poet is saying that
one thing is another thing, they aren’t just
similar. There is a good example in line
five where the speaker refers to the
youth’s beauty as “summer’s honey
breath”. This relates back to several other
similes and metaphors in other sonnets
where the youth is represented by
warmth and the sun.

Personification occurs when a poet

imbues a non-human creature or object
with human characteristics. In this
particular poem, as in ‘Sonnet 63’ and
‘Sonnet 64’ Shakespeare uses
personification to depict “time” as
something that has agency and the power
to destroy at will.

Detailed Analysis
Lines 1-4

“ Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor

boundless sea,

But sad mortality o’ersways their

power,

How with this rage shall beauty hold

a plea,

Whose action is no stronger than a

flower?

In the first four lines of ‘Sonnet 65,’ the

speaker begins by returning to the
subject matter that he expressed an
interest in throughout the previous two
sonnets. Within those poems, as well as
within this one, Shakespeare deals with
themes of time, old age, and beauty.
These are all discussed along with the
Fair Youth and how the relationship the
speaker has with him will change over
time.

He acknowledges in lines one and two

that everything is at the mercy of time.
This includes “brass,” “stone,” “earth”
and the “boundless” or limitless, “sea”.
There is nothing that’s strong enough to
resist the “sad mortality”. If these things
few quite strong forces can’t fight back
against time, then what chance does
“beauty” have in the face of such power?
Beauty, he says, is “no stronger than a
flower”.

Lines 5-8

“ O how shall summer’s honey breath

hold out

Against the wrackful siege of

batt’ring days,

When rocks impregnable are not so

stout,

Nor gates of steel so strong but time

decays?

He asks a rhetorical question in the

second quatrain, another technique that
is quite commonly used within
Shakespeare’s sonnets. He wonders how
the youth’s beauty (what he refers to as
“summer’s honey breath) will be able to
stand up against the “wrackful siege of
batt’ring days”. The chances of the youth
winning out seem entirely impossible as
the “gates of steel” and the “rocks” are
unable to withstand time.

Lines 9-14

“ O fearful meditation! Where, alack,

Shall time’s best jewel from time’s

chest lie hid?

Or what strong hand can hold his

swift foot back?

Or who his spoil or beauty can

forbid?

O none, unless this miracle have

might,

That in black ink my love may still

shine bright.

In the third and final quatrain of ‘Sonnet

65,’ the speaker explains over this
possibility. It’s terrifying to him, as he
stated in the previous sonnets, to
consider what time is going to do to his
beloved. He wonders where he hides the
youth’s beauty so that time can’t reach it.
It is a creation of time, but one like all
other creations, that time is coming to
destroy.

He asks several other questions in this

quatrain while considering who has the
ability to guard against age and the
destruction of beauty. The answer t these
questions comes in the final two lines,
another common feature of
Shakespeare’s works. He provides an
answer to a problem in the couplet.

With the turn, it becomes clear that no

one is going to be able to stand up against
time. There is truly only one possibility,
that the speaker preserves the youth’s
beauty within his writing.

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Home » William Shakespeare » Sonnet

65: Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor
boundless sea

About Emma
Baldwin
Emma graduated
from East Carolina
University with a
B.A. in English,
minor in Creative Writing, B.F.A. in
Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories.
Literature is one of her greatest
passions which she pursues through
analyzing poetry on Poem Analysis.

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