Student Question

Which Shakespearean play contains the quote "like pebbles to the beach"?

The quote is determined to be from "Sonnet 60."

Quick answer:

The quote "like pebbles to the beach" is not from a Shakespearean play but from "Sonnet 60." The sonnet explores themes of the frailty of life and the passage of time, comparing the relentless advance of waves toward the shore to the inevitable progression of time leading to life's end. Shakespeare suggests that while life is fleeting, his verse will endure beyond time's destructive hand, achieving a form of immortality.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Although not exact, the line you quote is from William Shakespeare, but it is not from a play, ... it's from a poem.  This line is from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 60:

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end.

Further, in the tags you have added to the question, you have mentioned the "frailty of life" and the "passing of time."  That is exactly what this quote refers to; therefore, I am assuming this is the quote you mean.

Now let's look at it in the context of the entire poem:

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, / So do our minutes hasten to their end, / Each changing place with that which goes before, / In sequent toil all forwards do contend. / Nativity, once in the main of light, / Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, / Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, / And time that gave doth now his gift confound. / Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth / And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow; / Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth, / And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow. / And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, / Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

  In the quote you provide, Shakespeare uses a simile to compare the waves slowly (but inevitably) moving towards the pebbles on the shore with the passage of time, specifically the passage of time within our earthly life.  Everything that is born will eventually die.  However, Shakespeare's point comes within the final couplet:  his words are made immortal through this sonnet, therefore he has conquered death in that way.  Those waves moving to that pebbled shore can't (and won't) reach his eternal lines of iambic pentameter.  They will last forever.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access

References

Approved by eNotes Editorial