1. As the opening sonnet of the sequence, this one obviously has especial importance. It contracted = being contracted to, under obligation to (in a legal sense). It also conveys the
appears to look both before and after, into the future and the past. It sets the tone for the sense of compressed, curtailed, restricted. Cf. Ham.I.ii.3-4.
following group of so called 'procreation' sonnets 1-17. In addition, many of the compelling ...and our whole kingdom
ideas of the later sonnets are first sketched out here - the youth's beauty, his vulnerability in To be contracted in one brow of woe,
the face of time's cruel processes, his potential for harm, to the world, and to himself, However it is difficult to see exactly what contracted to thine own bright eyes means,
(perhaps also to his lovers), nature's beauty, which is dull in comparison to his, the threat of although the glossarists cite the example of Narcissus from classical literature, who died
disease and cankers, the folly of being miserly, the need to see the world in a larger sense having fallen in love with his own beauteous reflection in water. The general sense seems to
than through one's own restricted vision. be that of one who is perpetually pre-occupied with his own concerns, looking upon himself,
and being under contract to pursue his own interests. See further discussions Sonnet 1
'Fair youth, be not churlish, be not self-centred, but go forth and fill the world with images of 6. Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
yourself, with heirs to replace you. Because of your beauty you owe the world a recompense, Feed'st thy light's flame = provides sustenance for the flame that gives light. Candles, tapers
which now you are devouring as if you were an enemy to yourself. Take pity on the world, and oil lamps were the only source of light in Shakespeare's day.
and do not, in utter selfish miserliness, allow yourself to become a perverted and self self-substantial fuel = fuel from its own body. Although the general sense of this line seems to
destructive object who eats up his own posterity'. be that of a fire or lamp burning up fuel, there are difficulties of interpretation. After all, how
is a candle meant to feed itself, other than with itself? The suggestion is that the fuel should
1. From fairest creatures we desire increase, be renewable. It implies a criticism of the youth, who is intent on devouring himself and his
fairest creatures = all living things that are beautiful. future hope. See further discussions Sonnet 1
increase = procreation, offspring. A reference also to the increase of the harvest, by which 7. Making a famine where abundance lies,
one seed of corn becomes many. There is a general presumption in husbandry that the best famine - emptiness, starvation, lack of provision for posterity.
stock must always be used in breeding, otherwise there is an overall decline and failure in abundance - presumably a reference to the youth's rich qualities, in contrast to the famine
productivity. The fairest creatures are therefore the fairest cattle, the best plants, the most which he threatens to create. Famines and glut were part of the usual cycle of life in the
excellent poultry, and so on. Whatever in fact is as good as, or an improvement on the Elizabethan world. A poor harvest could mean starvation for many, as the storage facilities
previous generation. Basically this is a farming or agricultarist metaphor. In his later years which we take for granted were unknown in those times.
Shakespeare seems to have been interested in the nature/nurture discussion. There is the 8. Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
famous passage in Winter's Tale, which is probably relevant here, in which Polixenes instructs Thy self thy foe = being an enemy to yourself.
Perdita on the science of breeding flowers. WT.IV.4.79-103. (See the end of this page). to thy sweet self too cruel - by refusing to procreate, hence denying a future to yourself. 'You
are being cruel to yourself in seeking your own extinction'.
2. That thereby beauty's rose might never die, 9. Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
thereby = in that way, by that means. the world's fresh ornament = a fresh and youthful glory to the world.
beauty's rose The rose was symbolic of all things beautiful. By reproducing itself it could, in a 10. And only herald to the gaudy spring,
sense, become immortal. only = most important, chief, unique.
herald = one who announces, a messenger. Shakespeare elsewhere calls the lark the herald of
3. But as the riper should by time decease, the morn, and the owl the herald of night.
riper = older, more mature, (person, plant, thing) more ready for harvesting. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
by time decease = die in the course of time. No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: RJ.III.5.6-8.
4. His tender heir might bear his memory:
tender = young, delicate, soft. (Often applied to young animals). gaudy = bright, colourful (not necessarily vulgar).
bear his memory - as an imprint taken from a seal; also with the sense of 'bearing a child', so 11. Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
that the heir carries on the memory of parents through the generations. content = substance. Also, probably, pleasure. GBE suggests that content also = semen, and
5. But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes, probably there is here a secondary meaning of masturbation, self-pleasure, as opposed to the
1

2. pleasure of procreation. SB mentions that Shakespeare exploits the possibility that rosebuds
were phallic in appearance. (p.324. note to 12-13). Content(s) even today has the double 3. Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now,
meaning of a) happiness, pleasure, and b) that which is contained in something. livery = uniform worn by servants in a nobleman's house. It could be quite sumptuous, if the
12. And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding: nobleman wished to make a show of wealth.
tender churl - probably a phrase indicating affection, rather than criticism, rather like 'silly
fool', or 'yer daft idiot'. The context makes all the difference to such forms, which spoken 4. Will be a totter'd weed of small worth held:
angrily can be insulting, spoken tenderly are terms of endearment. churl countryman, rustic; totter'd weed = a tattered garment. Tottered is an old spelling of tattered. weeds - often
mak'st waste = creates waste; lays waste, makes a desert; spills semen. refers to clothing in Shakespeare.
niggarding = being miserly, stingy.
13. Pity the world, or else this glutton be, 5. Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
this glutton = a glutton like this, i.e, such as I am about to describe, one who eats his own being asked = if you were to be asked; in the future, when you might be asked.
share as well as the world's. lies = is; is buried; is hidden.
14. To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. 6. Where all the treasure of thy lusty days;
by the grave and thee. Presumably, a duty owed to the world because the grave is all lusty days = the days of youthful exuberance; days of lustful behaviour. Note that treasure
devouring, and therefore to be fought; and a duty owed also to yourself, because it is in the contains a sexual innuendo, implying sexual parts, or semen, depending on context. Compare:
nature of things that beauty should procreate, otherwise 'three score years will bear the .....................treasure thou some place
world away', and so on. You purpose to be such a glutton as to consume both what the world With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-kill'd. 6
and you yourself should have as a right. The construction is not noticeably opaque until one Will will fulfil the treasure of thy love, 136
starts to analyse it.
The poet looks ahead to the time when the youth will have aged, and uses this as an 7. To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes,
argument to urge him to waste no time, and to have a child who will replicate his father and to say = to reply (to the question posed in the two lines above).
preserve his beauty. The imagery of ageing used is that of siege warfare, forty winters being within thine own deep sunken eyes - the treasure of days long gone would show nothing
the besieging army, which digs trenches in the fields before the threatened city. The trenches surviving other than hollow eyes, caused by the process of ageing. Possibly also a hinted
correspond to the furrows and lines which will mark the young man's forehead as he ages. He reference to the supposed effect of sexual excess (too much masturbation?).
is urged not to throw away all his beauty by devoting himself to self-pleasure, but to have
children, thus satisfying the world, and Nature, which will keep an account of what he does 8. Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.
with his life. all-eating shame = a shame which devours all sense of right and decorum. thriftless praise =
praise which produces no result or advantage. A praise of yourself which is clearly misplaced
The 1609 Quarto Version and damaging to you.
1. When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, thriftless = showing no sense of thrift, or economy.
besiege = lay siege to. A term from warfare. Forty winters (forty years) when added to the
young man's present age, would make him about 60. At such an age he would have many 9. How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use,
wrinkles, although it is generally reckoned that in Elizabethan times, owing to dietary thy beauty's use = the use which you make of your beauty, the profit you derive from it.
inadequacies and disease, people aged much more rapidly, and even a forty year old could be
deemed to have reached old age. So the poet could be referring to the youth as he might be 6-9. Undoubtedly a sexual meaning to these lines, especially in treasure of thy lusty days, thy
when he reaches forty. beauty's use. (See notes above) The youth is accused of expending his sexual energy upon
himself, with the concomitant result of shame, exhaustion, sunken eyes and failure to point
2. And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, to any lasting result. See extended discussion of SonnetI
dig deep trenches The besieging army would dig trenches to undermine the city's walls. But
the reference may also be to furrows dug in a field when ploughing. 10. If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine
2

3. If you could reply in response to their questions, 'This child of mine, etc., etc.' beguile = cheat; deprive of its due rights.
unbless = make unhappy, deprive of fruitfulness, and the pleasure of being married to you.
some mother = some woman whom you might marry and cause to be a mother.
5. For where is she so fair whose uneared womb
11. Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,' For where is she so fair = what woman is so beautiful that; where is the woman in the world
sum my count = add up the balance sheet of my life; probably a bawdy pun on count, that (would be too proud to sleep with you).
pronounced cunt. Hence, 'give a reckoning for all the cunts I have enjoyed'. uneared = unploughed. To ear is the old term for 'to plough', and often it is used
make my old excuse = justify my life when I am an old man; or, satisfy the arguments meatphorically. As e.g. in Antony and Cleopatra:
advanced of old, that I should produce heirs; or make my habitual, frequently repeated Caesar, I bring thee word,
excuse. Shakespeare uses old in this sense in Macbeth: Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
If a man were a porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. Mac.II.3.2-3. Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound
With keels of every kind. AC.I.4.47-50.
12. Proving his beauty by succession thine! where the keels are visualised as ploughing the sea.
Proving, by his beauty, that he succeeds you as an heir to your beauty. proving also has the uneared womb - The reference here is to sexual intercourse. Ploughing the womb, (as the
meaning of 'testing, trying out' which may be relevant here. plough enters into the soil so does the man enter into the woman), and sowing it with seed
(semen) leads to children, as ploughing and sowing the land leads to crops. According to the
13. This were to be new made when thou art old, physiology of the time, the male seed was the substance which created a child, and the
This were to be new made = this would be as if you were being newly created. woman was simply a carrier of the developing embryo. The biological details of reproduction
were not understood. For the ploughing imagery compare:
14. And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold. He ploughed her and she cropped A.C. II.2.228
Cold and freezing blood was thought to be the traditional accompaniment of old age. The which is Agrippa's description of Julius Caesar's liaison with Cleopatra, which resulted in the
message of the couplet is that a child made in his image would invigorate and effectively birth of Caesarion.
renew him when he reached old age. His blood would flow warm in his veins again.
6. Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
The youth is urged once more to look to posterity and to bless the world by begetting Disdains = is contemptuous of.
children. No woman, however beautiful, would disdain to have him as a mate. Just as he tillage of thy husbandry The farming and ploughing metaphor continues. Tillage is cultivation,
reflects his mother's beauty, showing how lovely she was in her prime, so a child of his would working of the land; husbandry is farm and estate management, with a pun on 'being a
be a record of his own beauty. In his old age he could look on this child and see an image of husband'.
what he once was. But if he chooses to remain single, everything will perish with him. 7. Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
fond = foolish
1. Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest 7-8 the tomb of his self-love in this context self-love leads to death, since there is no issue (i.e
glass = mirror; glass in the Sonnets usually means mirror. no children).
the face thou viewest = your reflection. I.e. speak to yourself and tell yourself that 'Now is the to stop posterity = to ensure that there are no descendants, to bring an end to future
time etc'. generations. The sentence has an additional sexual meaning, relating to masturbation. Onan
2. Now is the time that face should form another; was the biblical figure who was destroyed by God for spilling the seed 'that he might not have
I.e. by having a child. children'. See further commentary on SonnetI
3. Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
If you do not undertake now the repair and renewal of your face, since it is fast decaying. 8. Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
whose refers back to the face thou viewest. See above.
9. Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee
4. Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
3

4. Thou art thy mother's glass = you are effectively a mirror in which your mother can look to Which should sustain the bound and high curvet AW.II.3.272-5.
see a reflection of herself as she was in her youth. 2. Upon thy self thy beauty's legacy?
10. Calls back the lovely April of her prime; upon thy self - see the note above. The implication is that all his pleasure is wasted upon
Calls back = recalls, remembers, brings back to mind. himself.
the lovely April of her prime = her springtime, when she was most beautiful. April was the thy beauty's legacy = the riches that your beauty should leave to the world when you are
beginning of Spring, and was thought to be the most colourful of the months. Compare: gone (your children). The legacy of beauteous children should be created by his semen which
he is wasting instead in frivolous self pleasure.
With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare
That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems. 21 3. Nature's bequest gives nothing, but doth lend,
Nature's bequest = the qualities, talents, attributes, which are provided by Nature at birth.
11. So thou through windows of thine age shalt see, Nature, however, does not give outright, but only makes a loan. She expects repayment of
through windows of thine age - This suggests not only looking back from old age, upon the the loan with interest (in the form of gifts to the world).
past, as if through a window, but also looking at a child, one's own, as if seeing it through a 4. And being frank she lends to those are free:
window. The window can be both a barrier to and a point of contact with the world beyond. frank = generous, liberal;
12. Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time. to those are free = to those who are open hearted, free spirited. Nature expects a reciprocal
Despite = in spite of. response to her gift.
thy golden time = the time of your golden youth, the time of your glory. 5. Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse
13. But if thou live, remembered not to be, niggard = miserly person; stingy and selfish individual.
remembered not to be = determined not to be remembered, not being remembered. It ties in abuse = ill treat. Also with a suggestion of self-abuse, masturbation. The use of niggard(ing)
with the theme that the consequence of dying childless is to be erased from the book of here and in I.12 in a similar context suggests a slang meaning of tosser, wanker.
memory. 6. The bounteous largess given thee to give?
The inheritance (of beauty etc.) which was given to you so that you might pass it on. largess =
14. Die single and thine image dies with thee. generous bestowal of good qualities.
If you die, as a single man, with no children, there will be no image to carry on your memory. 7. Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
The line could be read as a sort of tetchy imperative - 'Die as a single person then, if you must The comparison of the youth with a usurer (money-lender), albeit a profitless (unsuccessful)
be so stubbornly inclined!'. one, is not very flattering. Perhaps it was meant to stir him into action which would remedy
The youth is urged once again not to throw away without regard the beauty which is his to the situation. use is intended both in the technical sense of lending money as a usurer, as well
perfection. It is Nature's gift, but only given on condition that it is used to profit the world, as that of making use of (his beauty) by procreating.
that is, by handing it on to future generations. An analogy is drawn from money-lending: the 8. So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live?
usurer should use his money wisely. Yet the young man has dealings with himself alone, and So great a sum of sums - Usurers had large sums of money at their disposal. They performed
cannot give a satisfactory account of time well spent. If he continues to behave in such a way, financial services which are nowadays done by banks.
his beauty will die with him, whereas he could leave inheritors to benefit from his legacy. yet canst not live - the poet here compares the usurer who makes a comfortable living from
the interest he charges, with the youth who has so much wealth of beauty, yet cannot live
1. Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend (survive) into the future.
Unthrifty = Unsaving, wasteful., prodigal.
loveliness - this is personified as the youth. The youth is beauty itself. 9. For having traffic with thy self alone,
1-2. Why dost thou spend/ upon thyself - As well as the financial sense of squandering wealth i.e by not dealing in the commodities which nature has bestowed upon you (nobility, beauty,
and resources, this also has a secondary sexual reference of emitting semen . Compare : wealth). The sexual meaning of masturbation is fairly explicit.
He wears his honour in a box unseen 10. Thou of thy self thy sweet self dost deceive:
That hugs his kicky wicky here at home, You deprive yourself of children, who are, in a sense, yourself; you deceive, cheat yourself.
Spending his manly marrow in her arms, of thy self could mean 'by your own action'. deceive = cheat.
4

5. 11. Then how when nature calls thee to be gone, 2. The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Then how - the question is taken over by What acceptable audit in the next line. The where = whereon, on which. The youth's beauty is typified by his gaze, which perhaps stands
compound question may be read as 'How will you give an account of yourself and your for his eyes, or his appearance, or his manner of looking at the world. See Miranda's
behaviour to Nature when she calls (when you die) and what audited record of yourself will exclamation on seeing Ferdinand:
you provide?' What is't? A spirit? Lord how it looks about! Tem.I.ii.412
3. Will play the tyrants to the very same
12. What acceptable audit canst thou leave? play the tyrant = will be tyrannical, will be like a tyrant. Possibly with a reference to the empty
Taken together the two lines seem to mean 'How is it that, when your time of death comes, bragging of a stage tyrant. See Hamlet's speech to the players Ham.III.2.1-14. Tyrants
you will not be able to render a satisfactory account of yourself?' (See note to line above). traditionally behaved with cruelty.
Strictly speaking the term audit is applied to a check which is made on accounts after they the very same must refer to 'the lovely gaze'.
have been presented, but also, by extension, it appears to mean the accounts themselves. It 4. And that unfair which fairly doth excel;
is based on the Latin Audite, (and spelt thus in 49 and 126), and is the imperative of the verb unfair = make ugly. Unfair is used here as a verb.
audire, to hear. Hence 'Hear! Listen! Be heard!' is the implied translation, and it indicates the which fairly doth excel = which excels in beauty, fairness.
hearing of accounts presented before a court, or tribunal, or in some such official setting. 5. For never-resting time leads summer on
13. Thy unused beauty must be tombed with thee, leads summer on - this suggests duplicity, as for example in the modern phrases 'to lead up
Here there is also a secondary (primary?) sexual meaning. Your beauty (seed) should be used the garden path', 'to lead by the nose'.
for procreation. If used in such a way, it would create progeny, a child who would be the
inheritor of that beauty. But if unused, by being spilt and wasted then etc. 6. To hideous winter, and confounds him there;
must be tombed = cannot avoid being entombed. (Your seed would be buried uselessly in hideous winter - Winter was often depicted as a hag dressed in filthy clothing.
your lap). Your children would be unborn, forever entombed. and confounds him there = and destroys him (summer) there, where winter reigns.
14. Which, used, lives th' executor to be. Confounds = destroys. Also suggests thwarts, reduces to perplexity. From the Latin
Which refers to 'thy beauty'. If it is used, it creates children, who would interpret and present confundere - to pour together, mix confusedly.
you as you were to the world. 7. Sap checked with frost, and lusty leaves quite gone,
lives th'executor to be = lives in the future as your children, as the inheritor and administrator checked = stopped, held back; Frost prevents the sap from rising. lusty = vigorous, full of
of your beauty. growth and energy.
8. Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness every where:
This and the following sonnet are written as a pair. o'er-snowed = covered with snow.
9. Then were not summer's distillation left,
The poet laments the progress of the years, which will play havoc with the young man's were not = If (summer's distillation) had not been preserved. This refers to the distillation of
beauty. Human life is like the seasons, spring, summer, autumn's maturity and fruition, perfume from fragrant flowers, such as roses. Rosewater was much in demand for
followed by hideous winter. Nothing is left of summer's beauty except for that which the sweetmeats, confections and kissing-comfits.
careful housewife preserves, the essence of roses and other flowers distilled for their 10. A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
perfume. Other than that there is no remembrance of things beautiful. But once distilled, the The distillate would be kept in a glass vessel, a vial. See the next sonnet.
substance of beauty is always preserved. therefore the youth should consider how his beauty 11. Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
might be best distilled. Beauty's effect = the action or force beauty exerts on the world. with = at the same time as,
together with.
1. Those hours, that with gentle work did frame were bereft = would be lost. We may paraphrase, 'If beauty were to die, the beneficial effects
The time of your growing up, which made you what you are. of beauty would die with it (if we did not save them by distillation)'.
with gentle work - Nature is portrayed as a gentle artificer, making things with kindness, but
later becoming tyrannous and harsh. 12. Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was:
frame = make, but contains the suggestion of making into a structure, or scaffolding.
5

6. A verb is understood here, such as 'would survive'. 'Neither the thing itself (beauty), nor any were not placed in a womb. The man's seed was considered to be the essential substance for
remembrance of what it was like, would survive'. the generation of new life. Women's function in the reproductive process was not
Nor it, nor no = neither it, nor any. understood. The woman was thought to be no more than the vehicle for carrying the man's
13. But flowers distilled, though they with winter meet, progeny.
distilled - see line 9. 5. That use is not forbidden usury,
though they with winter meet = although winter overtakes and destroys them. A return to the money lending imagery of Sonnet 4. 7-8.
use in the technical sense of usufruct, interest, making money by lending it out. Usury was
14. Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet. considered sinful, but a ten percent return on money was legally permitted. The usurers
Leese = loosen, release. performed the function of modern day banks. See GBE, p.120 Note on VI.5.
but = only.
their show = their outward appearance (with a suggestion of showiness, frivolity). 6. Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
substance = essence, essential being. Neo-Platonic philosophy made much of the distinction happies = makes happy. those refers to the borrowers.
between shadow and substance. the willing loan = a loan given (and taken?) willingly. The implication is that beauty could be
still = always, ever. lent out and repaid with interest, by the mother and by the children she bore to the man.
The theme of the previous sonnet, that summer's beauty must be distilled and preserved, is 7. That's for thy self to breed another thee,
here continued. The youth is encouraged to defeat the threatened ravages of winter by That's for thy self = which would be the case if you bred a copy of yourself, (as the usurers
having children. Ten children would increase his happiness tenfold, since there would be ten breed copies of their money).
faces to mirror his. Death therefore would be defeated, since he would live for ever through 8. Or ten times happier, be it ten for one;
his posterity, even if he should himself die. He is much too beautiful to be merely food for happier = more fortunate, as well as happier.
worms, and must be encouraged not to be selfish, but to outwit death and death's be it ten for one = should you have ten children rather than one.
conquering hand. 9. Ten times thy self were happier than thou art,
Having ten children would make you ten times happier than if you only had one child, or
1. Then let not winter's ragged hand deface, certainly happier than you are in your present childless situation.
winter's ragged hand: winter was often depicted as wearing rags. Also, being destructive, it
would make the things it touched look ragged. 10. If ten of thine ten times refigured thee:
deface - in addition to the general sense of disfigurement, it refers also to the wrinkles of old If ten children of yours existed, making ten images of you. But with a suggestion that the ten
age which deface the visage of youth. children could also breed, thus 'refiguring' him still further with grandchildren. The repetition
of ten, five times in three lines, seems to hammer the point home. He would be at least a
See also the further commentary on Sonnet64 hundred thousand times happier than he is in his present state.
2. In thee thy summer, ere thou be distilled: 11. Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart,
Spring and summer seem to refer interchangeably to the youth at his best. Evidently this line has biblical overtones. 'Oh death where is thy sting? Oh grave thy victory?'
ere thou be distill'd = before a distillation is made of your essence. Before you have children. if thou shouldst depart = if you should die.
The petals of flowers were boiled and distilled to extract the perfume. The distillate was
stored to be used in cosmetics and in the making of confectionery. 12. Leaving thee living in posterity?
3. Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place Since you would still be alive hereafter. Leave has the meanings of depart, die, and bequeath.
vial = phial, a small vessel for liquids, usually made of glass. treasure thou some place = enrich So that the youth would bequeath himself to posterity through his children. Posterity also had
some place, some maiden's womb with your treasure (seed, children). the meaning of perpetuity.
4. With beauty's treasure ere it be self-killed. 13. Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair
beauty's treasure = the treasure of your own beauty. Also, semen. ere = before. His beauty
would be self-killed by his refusing to have children, and his seed would be destroyed if it
6

7. self-willed = obstinate, but it also echoes self-killed of line 4. There is a sexual innuendo sound, which is actually made up of many sounds, so the family is a unit comprised of single
derived from will (= sexual desire, passion; see 135, 136). Hence ' do not devote yourself to members who function best — and most naturally — when working in tandem with one
self-pleasure, masturbation'. another.
14. To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir. Summary
death's conquest = that which is conquered, overthrown, by death. One who dies (or who has
an orgasm). Also apparently there is a legal meaning of conquest: (OED.6) - property acquired The poet imagines that the young man objects to the bliss of marriage on the grounds that he
by means other than inheritance (usually by force of arms). might die young anyway or that he might die and leave a bereaved widow and an orphaned
make worms thine heir: instead of leaving an heir in the normal way, he would leave worms child. To these arguments, the poet replies that should the young man marry, have a child,
breeding from his corpse. Only worms would profit from his death. and then die, at least his widow will be consoled by the child whom the young man fathered;
___________________________________________________________________________ in this way, his image will not be destroyed with his death. Furthermore, by not marrying, the
young man makes the whole world his widow.
Shakespeare continues the business imagery so prevalent in the previous sonnets. The
Summary concept of love is not entirely distinguished from commercial wealth, for Shakespeare relates
those who traffic in love to the world at large. When an unthrifty person makes ill use of his
Sonnet 7 compares human life to the passage of the sun ("gracious light") from sunrise to inherited wealth, only those among whom he squanders it benefit. The paradox lies in the
sunset. The sun's rising in the morning symbolizes the young man's youthful years: Just as we fact that the hoarding of love's beauty is the surest way of squandering it: Such consuming
watch the "sacred majesty" of the ever-higher sun, so too does the poet view the youth. The self-love unnaturally turns life inward, a waste felt by all.
sun's highest point in the sky resembles "strong youth in his middle age." However, after the
sun reaches it apex, its only direction is down. This downward movement represents "feeble Glossary
age" in the youth, and what is worse than mere physical appearance is that the people who
looked in awe at the youth's beauty will "look another way" when he has become old. In
death, he will not be remembered. makeless mateless.
As usual, the poet argues that the only way for the youth to ensure that he is remembered Summary
after he dies is to have a child, making it clear that this child should be a son. Two possible
reasons why the poet wants the young man to have a son and not a daughter are that, first, a
Sonnet 10 repeats and extends the argument of Sonnet 9, with the added suggestion that the
son would carry on the youth's last name, whereas traditionally a daughter would assume the
youth really loves no one. Clearly, the poet does not seriously believe the young man to be
last name of her husband, and second, the word "son" is a play on the word "sun" — it is not
incapable of affection, for then there would be no point in the poet's trying to maintain a
coincidental that in this sonnet, which incorporates the image of the sun, the poet makes
relationship with him. However, underneath the mock-serious tone is the poet's suggestion
clear for the first time that the young man's child should be a son.
that the youth's self-love wastes himself. Narcissism means infatuation with one's own
appearance, but the youth's absorption with his own image is really an attachment to
Summary nobody. He therefore loses the power of returning the creative force of love in a relationship.
The poet considers the youth's unwillingness to marry a form of homicide against his
potential progeny, which he suggested in Sonnet 9: "The world will wail thee like a makeless
In this sonnet, the poet compares a single musical note to the young man and a chord made wife;/ The world will be thy widow, and still weep . . ." And in Sonnet 10, the poet writes, "For
up of many notes to a family. The marriage of sounds in a chord symbolizes the union of thou art so possessed with murdrous hate/ that 'gainst thyself thou stick'st not to conspire."
father, mother, and child. Here, Sonnet 10 creates the image of marriage as a house with a roof falling in decay that the
youth should seek to repair, but the poet uses the house imagery less to indicate marriage
The first twelve lines elaborate a comparison between music and the youth, who, should he than to suggest the youth's beauty would reside in his offspring: "Make thee another self for
marry and have a child, would then be the very embodiment of harmony. But music, "the true love of me,/ That beauty still may live in thine or thee."
concord of well-tuned sounds," scolds him because he remains single — a single note, not a
chord. By refusing to marry, the youth destroys the harmony that he should make as part of
an ensemble, a family. Just as the strings of a lute when struck simultaneously produce one
7

8. Summary structure of such sonnets is periodic (consisting of a series of repeated stages), making for
tightness of organization, logical progression, and avoidance of a tacked-on couplet,
The poet now argues that the young man needs to have a child in order to maintain a balance
in nature, for as the youth grows old and wanes, his child's "fresh blood" will act as a balance Summary
to his own old age. The young man is irresponsible not to have a child, for if others acted as
he does, within one generation the entire human population would die out. The young man's
actions are not onlyirresponsible; they are also unnatural. Nature, according to the poet, Sonnet 13 furthers Sonnet 12's theme of death by again stating that death will forever
intended people who are able to have children to have them. Those people who refuse to vanquish the young man's beauty if he dies without leaving a child. Some significance may lie
have children are unnatural and upset nature's balance. in the fact that the poet refers to the youth as "you" in Sonnet 13 for the first time. "Thou"
expresses respectful homage in Elizabethan parlance, but "you" expresses intimate affection.
In any case, Sonnet 13 begins with the heartfelt wish, "O, that you were yourself," and the
Encouraging the youth to reproduce, the poet draws an analogy between procreation and warning, ". . . but, love, you are / No longer yours than you yourself here live." This second
writing poetry. The images of Sonnet 11 suggest that procreation and posterity reflect art and line reminds the youth that at death, he will cease to possess himself because he has no
craftsmanship: "She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby / Thou shouldst print more, offspring to perpetuate his name and his beauty.
not let that copy die." The young man, should he die childless, effectively kills any lasting
image of himself through his children.
The poet's proposal to his friend in Sonnet 13 contains ambiguities. Indeed, the young man
may choose either to have a son or to remain only an image of himself when he looks in a
Summary mirror. Substance (a son) or form (the youth's image in a mirror) is the only choice presented.
The young man seems so completely immersed in his own personality that his entire being is
in doubt. Already the poet hints of deceit, which now the youth unwittingly uses against
Sonnet 12 again speaks of the sterility of bachelorhood and recommends marriage and
himself and later deliberately uses against the poet. By refusing to marry, the youth cheats
children as a means of immortality. Additionally, the sonnet gathers the themes of Sonnets 5,
himself of happiness and denies his continuation in a child.
6, and 7 in a restatement of the idea of using procreation to defeat time. Sonnet 12
establishes a parallel way of measuring the passage of time, the passage of nature, and the
passage of youth through life — decay. Lines 1 and 2 focus on day becoming night (the The concluding couplet presents a new argument on the poet's part in persuading the young
passage of time); lines 3 and 4 link nature to humankind, for the poet first evokes a flower's man to marry and procreate. Earlier in the sonnets (Sonnets 3 and 8), the poet invoked the
wilting stage (the passage of nature). Then, in line 4, the poet juxtaposes this image with young man's mother as a persuasive tool. Here, the poet asks why the youth would deny a
black hair naturally aging and turning gray (the passage of youth) — an allusion perhaps son the pleasure of having the young man as his father, just as the young man found
meant to frighten the young man about turning old without having created a child. The poet happiness in being the son of his father. And perhaps even more important, the poet
then discusses the progression of the seasons, from "summer's green" to "the bier with white questions why the young man would deny himself the rapture of fatherhood when he has
and bristly beard," which is an image of snow and winter. By stressing these different ways to plainly observed the joy of his own father's being a parent to him.
measure time's decay, the poet hopes that the young man will finally realize that time stops
for no one; the only way the young man will ensure the survival of his beauty is through
offspring. This final point, that having children is the single means of gaining immortality, is Summary
most strongly stated in the sonnet's concluding couplet: "And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe
can make defense / Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence." In these lines, Sonnet 13 depends on an intimate relationship between the poet and the young man that is
"Time's scythe," a traditional image of death, is unstoppable "save breed," meaning except by symbolized in the use of the more affectionate "you"; Sonnet 14 discards — at least
having children. The fast pace of time, or the loss of it, remains a major theme in the sonnets. temporarily — this intimate "you" and focuses on the poet's own stake in the relationship
between the two men. In fact, this sonnet is more about the poet — the "I" — than about the
Sonnet 12 is notable for its musical quality, thanks largely to the effective use of alliteration young man. Ironically, the poet appears to be as infatuated with the young man as he claims
and attractive vowel runs, which are of unusual merit. This sonnet, along with Sonnet 15, the young man is infatuated with his own reflection in a mirror.
which is also notable for its musical quality, is almost always included in anthologies of lyric
poetry. Note the striking concluding lines and how they convey the sense of sorrow and Sonnet 14 contains one dominant image, that of the young man's eyes as stars, from which
poignancy at the thought that youth and beauty must be cut down by time's scythe. The the poet attains his knowledge. Stylistically, this sonnet is a good example of a typical
contrast of "brave day" with "hideous night" is particularly good. And, as one critic has Shakespearean sonnet: The first eight lines establish an argument, and then line 9 turns this
pointed out, the sonnets beginning with "When" are especially noteworthy because the argument upside down with its first word, "But." The concluding couplet, lines 13 and 14,
declares some outcome or effect of the young man's behavior. Typically, this concluding
8

9. image is of death, as in Sonnet 14's "Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date." In other life") will keep the young man's beauty alive and youthful in a form more substantial than art
words, should the young man die without fathering a son, not only will he suffer from the lack can create.
of an heir, but the world, too, will suffer from the youth's selfishness.
Summary
Summary
In the earlier sonnets, the poet's main concern was to persuade the youth to marry and
In Sonnet 15's first eight lines, the poet surveys how objects mutate — decay — over time: ". . reproduce his beauty in the creation of a child. That purpose changes here in Sonnet 17, in
. every thing that grows / Holds in perfection but a little moment." In other words, life is which the poet fears that his praise will be remembered merely as a "poet's rage" that falsely
transitory and ever-changing. Even the youth's beauty will fade over time, but because the gave the youth more beauty than the youth actually possessed, thus expressing an insecurity
poet knows that this metamorphosis is inevitable, he gains an even stronger appreciation of about his poetic creations that began in the preceding sonnet.
the young man's beautiful appearance in the present time — at least in the present time
within the sonnet. Ironically, then, the youth's beauty is both transitory and permanent —
This disparaging tone concerning the sonnets is most evident in line 3, in which the poet
transitory because all things in nature mutate and decay over time, and permanent because
characterizes his poetry as a "tomb." Such death imagery is appropriate given the frequent
the inevitable aging process, which the poet is wholly aware of as inevitable, intensifies the
incorporation of time, death, and decay images throughout the first seventeen sonnets.
young man's present beauty: Generally, the more momentary an object lasts, the more
Ironically, the poet, who has been so concerned about the young man's leaving behind a
vibrant and intense is its short life span.
legacy at death to remind others of his priceless beauty, is now worried about his own future
reputation. Will his poems be ridiculed by readers who disbelieve the poet's laudatory praise
Sonnet 15 also introduces another major theme that will be more greatly developed in later of the young man's beauty? Not, says the poet, if the youth has a child by which people can
sonnets: the power of the poet's verse to memorialize forever the young man's beauty. "I then compare the poet's descriptions of the youth's beauty to the beauty of the youth's child
ingraft you new," the poet says at the end of the sonnet, by which the poet means that, — now asking the youth to have a child in order to confirm the poet's worthiness.
however steady is the charge of decay, his verses about the young man will keep the youth's
beauty always fresh, always new; the sonnets immortalize this beauty. Ironically, the poet's
The sonnet's concluding couplet links sexual procreation and versification as parallel
sonnets serve the same purpose as a son whom the poet wants the young man to father:
activities: "But were some child of yours alive that time, / You should live twice — in it and in
They perpetuate the youth's beauty just as a son would. In fact, the sonnets are even more
my rime." The poet's task is an endless struggle against time, whose destructive purpose can
immortal than a son. The sonnets continue to be read even today, whereas the young man's
only be frustrated by the creation of fresh beauty or art, which holds life suspended.
progeny may have completely died out.
Glossary Summary
vaunt boast. One of the best known of Shakespeare's sonnets, Sonnet 18 is memorable for the skillful and
varied presentation of subject matter, in which the poet's feelings reach a level of rapture
unseen in the previous sonnets. The poet here abandons his quest for the youth to have a
Summary child, and instead glories in the youth's beauty.
Sonnet 16 continues the arguments for the youth to marry and at the same time now Initially, the poet poses a question — "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" — and then
disparages the poet's own poetic labors, for the poet concedes that children will ensure the reflects on it, remarking that the youth's beauty far surpasses summer's delights. The imagery
young man immortality more surely than will his verses because neither verse nor painting is the very essence of simplicity: "wind" and "buds." In the fourth line, legal terminology —
can provide a true reproduction of the "inward worth" or the "outward fair" of youth. "summer's lease" — is introduced in contrast to the commonplace images in the first three
lines. Note also the poet's use of extremes in the phrases "more lovely," "all too short," and
"too hot"; these phrases emphasize the young man's beauty.
Although the poet has tried to immortalize the youth's beauty in his sonnets, the youth's
sexual power is, as line 4 states, endowed "With means more blessed than my barren rhyme."
The poet concedes that his poetry ("painted counterfeit") is "barren"because it is a mere Although lines 9 through 12 are marked by a more expansive tone and deeper feeling, the
replica of the young man's beauty and not the real thing itself, whereas a child ("the lines of poet returns to the simplicity of the opening images. As one expects in Shakespeare's
sonnets, the proposition that the poet sets up in the first eight lines — that all nature is
9

10. subject to imperfection — is now contrasted in these next four lines beginning with "But." In this crucial, sensual sonnet, the young man becomes the "master-mistress" of the poet's
Although beauty naturally declines at some point — "And every fair from fair sometime passion. The young man's double nature and character, however, present a problem of
declines" — the youth's beauty will not; his unchanging appearance is atypical of nature's description: Although to the poet he possesses a woman's gentleness and charm, the youth
steady progression. Even death is impotent against the youth's beauty. Note the ambiguity in bears the genitalia ("one thing") of a man, and despite having a woman's physical
the phrase "eternal lines": Are these "lines" the poet's verses or the youth's hoped-for attractiveness, the young man has none of a woman's fickle and flirtatious character — a
children? Or are they simply wrinkles meant to represent the process of aging? Whatever the condescending view of women, if not flat out misogynistic.
answer, the poet is jubilant in this sonnet because nothing threatens the young man's
beautiful appearance.
The youth's double sexuality, as portrayed by the poet, accentuates the youth's challenge for
the poet. As a man with the beauty of a woman, the youth is designed to be partnered with
Then follows the concluding couplet: "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long women but attracts men as well, being unsurpassed in looks and more faithful than any
lives this, and this gives life to thee." The poet is describing not what the youth is but what he woman.
will be ages hence, as captured in the poet's eternal verse — or again, in a hoped-for child.
Whatever one may feel about the sentiment expressed in the sonnet and especially in these
Sonnet 20 is the first sonnet not concerned in one way or another with the defeat of time or
last two lines, one cannot help but notice an abrupt change in the poet's own estimate of his
with the young man's fathering a child. Rather, the poet's interest is in discovering the nature
poetic writing. Following the poet's disparaging reference to his "pupil pen" and "barren
of their relationship. Yet even as the poet acknowledges an erotic attraction to the youth, he
rhyme" in Sonnet 16, it comes as a surprise in Sonnet 18 to find him boasting that his poetry
does not entertain the possibility of a physical consummation of his love.
will be eternal.
Of all the sonnets, Sonnet 20 stirs the most critical controversy, particularly among those
Summary critics who read the sonnets as autobiography. But the issue here is not what could have
happened, but what the poet's feelings are. Ambiguity characterizes his feelings but not his
In Sonnet 19, the poet addresses Time and, using vivid animal imagery, comments on Time's language. The poet does not want to possess the youth physically. But the sonnet is the first
normal effects on nature. The poet then commands Time not to age the young man and ends one to evoke bawdiness. The poet "fell a-doting" and waxes in a dreamlike repine of his
by boldly asserting that the poet's own creative talent will make the youth permanently creation until, in the last line, the dreamer wakes to the youth's true sexual reality: "Mine be
young and beautiful. However uninspired the sonnet as a whole might seem, the imagery of thy love, and thy love's use their treasure." We are assured then that the relation of poet to
animals is particularly vivid. youth is based on love rather than sex; according to some critics, even if the possibility
existed that the poet could have a sexual relationship with the young man, he doesn't show
that he would be tempted. Other critics, of course, disagree with this interpretation.
The sonnet's first seven lines address the ravages of nature that "Devouring Time" can wreak.
Then, in line 8, the poet inserts the counter-statement, one line earlier than usual: "But I
forbid thee one most heinous crime." The poet wants time to leave the young man's beauty
untouched. Note that the word "lines" in line 10 unquestionably means wrinkles; in the
previous sonnet, "lines" had at least three possible meanings.
Although the poet begs time not to ravish the young man's beauty, to leave it "untainted" as
an example of perfection ("beauty's pattern") upon which all can gaze, the concluding
couplet, especially line 13's beginning "Yet," underscores the poet's insecurity of what he asks
for. However, nature's threatening the youth's beauty does not matter, for the poet
confidently asserts that the youth will gain immortality as the subject of the sonnets. Because
poetry, according to the poet, is eternal, it only stands to reason that his poetry about the
young man will ensure the youth's immortality. The youth as the physical subject of the
sonnets will age and eventually die, but in the sonnets themselves he will remain young and
beautiful.
Summary
10

11. 11