Therefore, while Shakespeare is still satisfying his cultural expectations within his sonnet in that he is directly addressing the concept of idealized love, he changes the focus to emphasizing the emotion of love itself as being worthy of preservation as it is embodied, for him, in the figure of the woman to whom he has written the poem. After describing how the greatest monuments eventually become “unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time” (Shakespeare 4) and how “wasteful war shall statues overturn” (5), he indicates his poetry will be able to outlast these types of monuments because of its ability to be preserved within a hearts and minds of lovers “Even in the eyes of all posterity / That wear this world out to the ending doom” (11-12). In this sonnet, he turns to the more timeless yet still ultimately vulnerable forms of architecture to emphasize the greater longevity of a masterful sonnet as compared to these structures. Recognizing that the human body is doomed to decay and disintegration, Shakespeare constantly sought more permanent means of honoring the thought of his muse. In the Petrarchan tradition, the expected content was an idealized portrayal of the physical attributes of the idealized feminine to such a degree that she couldn’t possibly be a real woman (McLaughlin, 1999). Shakespeare changes the content of the traditional sonnet in this particular poem by placing the focus on the true permanence of the image rather than the physical ‘permanence’ of the woman herself. These ideas become clear as they are applied to Sonnet 55 “Not marble nor the gilded monuments.” At the same time, Shakespeare also alters the sound of the sonnet as he adjusts the way in which the theme is delivered from the traditional sestet/octet organization to one based on three quatrains and a couplet.

Shakespeare’s sonnets, such as Sonnet 55 “Not marble nor the gilded monuments”, alter this traditional theme, attempting to replace it with something more permanent than the external and changing attributes of the human form. His feelings for her cause him to experience multiple emotional extremes while also inspiring him to reach new spiritual heights. English sonnets generally followed the Petrarchan ideal, in which an idealistic feminine figure was presented as both the cause and the balm for all of the male lover’s sorrows. William Shakespeare broke the code of traditional sonnets established in England in his time both in his choice of content and organization of theme as he subtly poked fun at the romantic ideals of his age.

Shakespeare sonnet structure