Figurative Language:
* Metaphor: "Time's thievish hand" (Line 1), "his scythe" (Line 3) both metaphorically represent the destructive power of time. "Beauty's" (Line 9) and "youth's" (Line 10) are personified as if they are entities that are stolen by time.
* Personification: "Time's thievish hand" and "his scythe" (Lines 1, 3) give human qualities to time, highlighting its destructive nature.
* Simile: "Like to the summer's flower, whose pride" (Line 4) compares a person's beauty and youth to the fleeting bloom of a summer flower.
* Hyperbole: "The monuments of unforgetting age" (Line 6) exaggerates the power of time to destroy even enduring structures.
Sound Devices:
* Alliteration: "Like to the summer's flower" (Line 4), "Time's thievish hand" (Line 1).
* Assonance: "whose pride" (Line 4), "The monuments of unforgetting age" (Line 6).
* Consonance: "Time's thievish hand" (Line 1), "his scythe" (Line 3), "Like to the summer's flower" (Line 4).
Other Devices:
* Juxtaposition: The contrasting imagery of summer's bloom (Line 4) and winter's barrenness (Line 5) emphasizes the transience of beauty.
* Symbolism: "The monuments of unforgetting age" (Line 6) symbolize enduring legacies, while "His beauty being changed to withered age" (Line 7) symbolizes the inevitable decay of physical beauty.
* Repetition: "To Time, his scythe" (Lines 3, 11) and "His beauty being changed to withered age" (Lines 7, 12) highlight the cyclical nature of time and its destructive impact.
* Imagery: The sonnet is filled with vivid imagery, from the "summer's flower" (Line 4) to "withered age" (Line 7), creating a powerful picture of time's relentless march.
Overall Structure:
* Sonnet Structure: Shakespeare's typical sonnet form, with 14 lines in iambic pentameter and a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The sonnet's form reinforces the theme of time's relentless progression.
* Themes: The sonnet explores the themes of time, beauty, transience, and mortality. The sonnet questions the futility of attempting to escape time's inevitable destruction.
These are just some of the literary devices present in Sonnet 60. Shakespeare masterfully weaves them together to create a profound meditation on the passing of time and the enduring power of love.