![]() ![]() Shakespeare’s father was a merchant who devoted himself to public service, attaining the position of bailiff and justice of the peace by 1568. He had four sisters, only one of whom lived to adulthood, and three younger brothers, all of whom survived childhood, although none outlived Shakespeare himself. Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small market town in a rural region north of London, England. The poem makes a defiant statement about the power of poetry and love over death while, ironically, deriving much of its poetic interest through images of oblivion. In “Sonnet 55,” addressed to the young friend, the speaker of the poem claims that his “powerful rhyme” will outlast “marble” and “gilded monuments,” keeping the youth’s memory alive until the Last Judgement. Shakespeare wrote a total of 154 sonnets the first 126 being addressed to a “Young Man” or “Friend” while sonnets 127 to 152 are addressed to a mysterious “Dark Lady,” possibly the poet’s mistress. ![]()
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