Analysis Thursday: Sonnet 54

New game: Every Thursday, I'm going to analyze something. This Thursday, as I sit in in last Web Mastering class, I'd like to analyze Sonnet 54 by Shakespeare.

O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give.
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour, which doth in it live.
The canker blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade;
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall vade, my verse distills your truth.

It starts out by saying how lovely beauty is when seen with integrity. Roses are beautiful, but even more so because of their sweet smell. On the other hand, dog roses (the less appealing roses), which are just as bright, smell just as lovely, have the same thorns, and sway in the same way when the wind blows, are doomed. Because these weeds don't look pretty, they will live in lonliness and die unnoticed. Roses, however, will fourish and even after they die, will leave behind a most beautiful scent. The young and beautiful person's beauty will die only when the words die.

How interesting, when you think about it. Ironic how roses and weeds face the same kind of discrimination that we do in everday life. We put so much emphsis on beauty that only the lucky ones are mentioned. The rest of us less attractive nobodies remain in the shadows, alone, until a sad and unnoticed passing. Would the weeds be missed? Of course not. Are the weeds even noticed while alive? Most likely not.

I feel that I might become the dog rose: lovely in my own way and made of the same things as the beautiful rose, but lacking in qualities that would be found attractive. Hmm. It's an interesting "what if?" to contemplate.

xx From The First Kisses To The Very Last Hugs Marz