Theme of Immortality in Literature

For centuries people have desired to transcend the limits of a temporary life, yearning for the ultimately unattainable goal of immortality. Poets have also expressed in their works the desire to remain as they are with their beloved despite time and death. Although William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” and Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” from Amoretti both offer immortality through verse, only Spenser combines this immortality with respect and partnership, while Shakespeare promises himself immortality as long as the sonnet continues to be read. Spenser debates with his lover, treating her as his equal as Shakespeare takes an egotistical approach to the topic and praises himself. However, both Shakespeare and Spenser treat the subject in an original and individual manner. Spenser starts from an average situation and uses dialogue to convey the main idea. Shakespeare addresses the reader with a monologue. Both William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” and Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” present the idea of the ability of poetry to immortalize and allow one to outlast time and death.

In “Sonnet 75” from Amoretti, Spenser claims to be able to give his beloved immortality through his poetry. He does so by starting from a typical situation between two lovers. The circumstances are therefore general, but Spenser communicates in such a way as to make the scenario intimately personal. His sonnet creates a picture of an ideal love through the conversation between his lady and himself, absorbed in each other, against the background of the sea. In his opening lines he projects a vivid image of a rolling tide flowing across the sands of a beach as the speaker relentlessly attempts to write the name of his lover in the moist shore. He would like to preserve h...

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...to immortalize. In Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75”, from Amoretti, the speaking persona is concerned with immortalizing his beloved using his verse. William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” views the immortality of poems differently. The speaker of “Sonnet 55” exudes confidence and egotism, claiming that his powerful verse will forever be immortalized due to future readers’ praise and admiration. As a result, so too will the poet be immortalized through his work. Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” and Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” both offer immortality through verse. However, Spenser wishes to immortalize his beloved, while Shakespeare is the subject of his own sonnet and believes his immortality is imminent so long as the sonnet itself continues to be praised and remembered. Nonetheless, both Shakespeare and Spenser treat the subject of immortality with a creative and charming approach.