Sonnet fityfy (55)

This poem is most similar in structure concerning shift and general idea to sonnet number 18. The central idea, as in 18, is that the poem shall give immortality to the young man, vicariously through the endless chain of those in love that shall read it, and simply through those that have experienced love independently. The quality of this poem that makes it distinct from any other is how Shakespeare describes other attempts at "immortality," monuments, other works of masonry, failing to effectively extend the lives of their subjects, due to the wearing effect of time, which is again personified, only this time as a slut. He contrasts these man-made monuments to his own creation, and states that, for the existence of his work, W.H. shall live to the world's end.