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..come kiss me, sweet and twenty,/Youth's a stuff will not endure."
Although the singer of "O Mistress Mine" is equally aware as the author of Sonnet 18 that life is not forever, and we must love while we can, his attitude is not to make sense of this by trying to create something permanent in the form of a poem, but to entertain and achieve an objective of a kiss! Life is short so enjoy it while you can, is the message of the song. Unlike a written poem, a song ends with the end of a performance, so it celebrates joy, not permanency.
The fact that the song occurs during a play also means that the audience likely wants listen to something active, rather than take time to meditate on a few lines' meaning. A person, even a lover, can go to the privacy of a room and read a sonnet, and read it several times, and get a different meaning from the sonnet every time. He or she can even read it later, after the love affair has ended, or the relationship with the author has changed....
But even though a song can be written down, every performance is different, and even a recorded song listened to in privacy cannot be stopped constantly so the listener can thing about the meaning of every word. Songs are of the moment, not for all time like sonnets aspire to be, but both forms fulfill important functions for expressing human ideas, or the simple joy and sorrows of life.
Works Cited
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. "How do I love thee?" Poets.org. 7 Oct 2007. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15384
Hennequin, Wendy. "Building Blocks of Sonnets." University of Connecticut.
Created 2000. 7 Oct 2007. http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mwh95001/sonnets.html#Terms
Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 18." Shakespeare Online 7 Oct 2007. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18.html
Shakespeare, William. "Twelfth Night." Full text. Shakespeare Homepage. 7 Oct 2007. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/full.html
Works Cited
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. "How do I love thee?" Poets.org. 7 Oct 2007. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15384
Hennequin, Wendy. "Building Blocks of Sonnets." University of Connecticut.
Created 2000. 7 Oct 2007. http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mwh95001/sonnets.html#Terms
Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 18." Shakespeare Online 7 Oct 2007. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18.html
Shakespeare, William. "Twelfth Night." Full text. Shakespeare Homepage. 7 Oct 2007. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/full.html
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