Addressed to the young man, this sonnet makes the sequence's boldest immortality claim: no marble monument or royal tomb will last as long as this poem, which will carry his memory all the way to Judgment Day.
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
Neither marble nor the gold-plated monuments of princes will outlive this powerful poetry.
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.
You will shine more brightly in these lines than in some neglected gravestone smeared with the grime of slovenly time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
When wasteful war overturns statues and riots rip up the stonemason's work, neither the sword of Mars, god of war, nor war's fast-spreading fire will burn away this living record of your memory.
’Gainst death, and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
Against death, and against hostility that wipes out everything, you will keep striding forward; praise of you will always find a place in the eyes of every future generation, down to the ones who wear this world out to Judgment Day.
So, till the judgement that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.
So, until that final judgment when you yourself rise from the dead, you live in this poem — and dwell in lovers' eyes.
Sonnet 55 summary
Addressed to the young man, this sonnet makes the sequence's boldest immortality claim: no marble monument or royal tomb will last as long as this poem, which will carry his memory all the way to Judgment Day.
Famous lines in Sonnet 55, explained
- “Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;” (line 1)
- The most confident boast in the sonnets: this poem will outlast the grandest tombs that kings can build. The idea echoes the Roman poet Horace, who claimed to have built 'a monument more lasting than bronze' — and Shakespeare was right: the marble crumbled, and the poem survives.
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About this translation: the original text follows the public-domain Project Gutenberg Globe edition; the modern English translation was written in-house for Polytranslator and is reviewed on an ongoing basis (last revised August 2026). Free to print and photocopy for classroom use. Cite as: “Sonnets, Sonnet 55. Polytranslator side-by-side translation, polytranslator.com/shakespeare/sonnets/sonnet-55.”
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Free side-by-side translation — polytranslator.com/shakespeare/sonnets/sonnet-55