Time’s Fickle Glass: Conceptualizations and Blends in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 126 and Its Polish Translations

Sonnet 126 is discussed as to its specific place in the sequence and its unusual form. Particular attention is paid to its language and the way ambiguities are created, especially in relation to the  ostensibly addressed ‘lovely boy’, leading to ironical distancing of the speaker. The discussion of three Polish translations of the sonnet traces shifts and changes of perspective yielding three different variations on the themes of Shakespeare’s sonnet.