"Sonnet 55" by William Shakespeare is a poem written on the subject of immortality. "Sonnet 55" compares the physical subjects of immortality such as monuments and buildings to non-physical subjects like memory. Shakespeare explains that physical subjects can not outlast its memory. Irony is shown by many people believing in using physical objects to obtain immortality but in truth objects will fade into non-existence without God granting immortality. Allusions are used to explain the power of God to grant immortality which is the only way to attain immortality. William Shakespeare shows that immortality can not be obtained no matter how hard you try and it is decision of god that decides whether or not immortality is granted, this is shown through the juxtaposition, irony and allusions in the poem.
             "Sonnet 55" emphasizes immortality through the juxtaposition of physical and non-physical subjects. In the first stanza, Shakespeare compares objects that represent immortality to "powerful rhyme[s]" (2). This states that poetry has the power of immortality and can outlast "monuments/Of princes." (1-2).In the second stanza Shakespeare contrasts "overturn[ed]" (5) statues, which represents the failing power of immortality in non-physical subjects to "the living record of your memory" (8) that can endure even against death and hate. This suggests that memory will not be affected by war as statues will.
             Although Shakespeare states that memories and poetry can obtain immortality, there is a possibility that memories and poetry can fade. On line four, the "unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time" conveys the idea of a neglected monument that has been forgotten over time. The monument was created to maintain the memory of the person or object into immortality, but the purpose of the monument has failed. Shakespeare explains that &q...