FROM FAIREST CREATURE by Shakespeare

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"From fairest creature" is the opening line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 106, a poem that explores the passage of time, beauty, and the enduring nature of poetry. In this sonnet, the speaker reflects on how the most beautiful and perfect individuals of his time, those with the finest physical features, are immortalized in poetry.

The sonnet begins with the phrase, "From fairest creature," referring to a person who possesses great beauty. Shakespeare immediately acknowledges that beauty, particularly physical beauty, is a fleeting quality. Yet, through the power of poetry, the poet believes that the beauty of the person described can be preserved for eternity. The "fairest creature" is not just beautiful in the physical sense but represents an idealized version of human beauty.

The speaker compares the beauty of this person with the written word. He observes that while this beauty will inevitably fade with time, the words of the poet, captured in verse, will keep the memory of this beauty alive forever. Shakespeare’s ability to capture the essence of beauty through poetry is the central theme of the sonnet. The poet, in this case, becomes a kind of immortalizer, turning transient beauty into something that will live on through time.

Further, the poem discusses how previous generations of poets have attempted to describe beauty, but their efforts always fall short. These poets, even though talented, can never fully capture the true essence of the subject. Shakespeare suggests that only by describing the "fairest creature" of his own time in his sonnet can he achieve the level of perfection that earlier poets failed to reach. By writing about this person, Shakespeare claims that he can immortalize their beauty in a way no previous poet has.

However, the sonnet also hints at the relationship between beauty and time. The speaker notes that the subject’s beauty is, in a sense, "new," meaning that it has not yet been fully recorded in the history of literature. By preserving this beauty in verse, Shakespeare presents the poem as a form of timeless preservation. While beauty might fade with time, poetry, as the sonnet suggests, transcends temporal limitations and ensures that the beauty it describes is forever memorialized.

In the final couplet, the speaker makes a subtle claim about his own poetic talent. He suggests that by writing this sonnet, he is offering an unparalleled representation of beauty. Through the act of writing, Shakespeare believes he is achieving a level of artistry that secures the immortality of the subject’s beauty.

In conclusion, Sonnet 106 is a meditation on the relationship between beauty, time, and art. Shakespeare celebrates the power of poetry to immortalize beauty, asserting that while physical beauty may fade, the written word preserves it, offering an eternal tribute to the "fairest creature" it describes. The poem is a reflection of the poet's belief in his ability to preserve the most fleeting of qualities, offering a kind of immortality through the written word.

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