Question

Which according to poet last long marble monuments or monuments of words

Answer 1

Shakespeare in his Sonnet55 "Nor marble nor the gilded monuments", clearly depicts how a monument deteriorates and degenerates over time. The work of masonry of a monument might not last as long as his words would last. Extreme times of war, as he states, will also have an impact as the effigies can be broken and can't be restored to the bonafide. A monument will be remembered by a person who has witnessed its beauty, for a stranger unknown to its appearance its nil, whereas words will be remembered by the readers and can be spread to a stranger by reading those words to the person. Which is why, monuments of words will last longer.