ANY TRUE POET or reader of poetry will agree with William Shakespeare’s sentiments: Poetry trumps all.

“Sonnet 55” is one in a long line of Shakespearean sonnets that ponder the immense power of literature. He heralds the poem as the ultimate monument to the memory of an individual and in doing so praises his craft in the most glowing and sweeping terms.

This sonnet may provide some insight into what Shakespeare was thinking when he wrote his poetry.

“SONNET 55”
by William Shakespeare

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish 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.
’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.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.

Check out more of Shakespeare’s sonnets here.