Date of Award
8-2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Gery, John
Second Advisor
Mooney, Michael
Third Advisor
Loomis, Catherine
Abstract
Throughout the procreation sonnets and those numerous sonnets that promise immortality through verse for Shakespeare's beloved young man, the poet personifies time as an agent of relentlessly destructive change. Yet Shakespeare's approach to the personification of time, as well as his reactions to time, changes over the course of the sequence. He transforms his fear of and obsession with time as a destroyer typical of most sonnets to an attitude of mastery over the once ominous force. The act of contemplating time's power by personification provides the speaker with a deeper awareness of time, love, and mutability that allows him to form several new philosophies which resolve his fear. By the end of the sequence, the poet no longer fortifies himself and the beloved against time's devastation because his new outlook fosters an acceptance of time that opposes and thus negates his previous contention with this force.
Recommended Citation
Roberson, Triche, ""The conceit of this inconstant stay": Shakespeare's Philosophical Conquest of Time Through Personification" (2010). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1203.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1203
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.