Feb 7, 2019 - Sonnets

Shakespeare’s Sonnets is a poem that takes a unique perspective at the beauty in a man. It focuses on this attractive man who is way above normal beauty standards. This poem gives no indication of a time period or location, which is often a characteristic of Shakespearean work. As Shakespeare is talking about this beautiful man, he often brings up the theme that beauty is fleeting because it cannot escape time, “Sets you most rich in youth before my sight, Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay To change your day of youth to sullied night.” (541). Here it is evident that Shakespeare is warning someone to cherish their youth because time will soon take its toll on their beauty. However, Shakespeare tries to keep this beauty eternal through his writing, “Yet do thy worst, old Time; despite thy wrong, My love shall in my verse ever live young.” (542). He is trying to show that he can beat time and make beauty eternal. The poem goes on and Shakespeare continues his talk of beauty and death. He comes to a conclusion near the end of the poem about beauty and how that translates to love, “Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom.” (549). At this moment, Shakespeare comes to understand that his love for someone’s beauty is not something that time can ever take away from him. Ultimately, this poem illustrates a coming of realization about love that Shakespeare comes to at the end of this written work.


Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: the Major Authors. W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.

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