27/10/2022
SONNET 12 BY WILLIAMS SHAKESPEAR
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls, all silvered o’er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
AUTHORIAL BACKGROUND
Williams Shakespeare was born on April 26th, 1564 in Stratford, United Kingdom and died on April 23, 1616.
Although it was believed that he never had a university education, he is widely regarded as one of the finest English poets and playwrights as well as the greatest writer in the English language!
He wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long narrative poems. He was England’s national poet and managing partner of a theatrical company known as The Lord’s Chamberlain, which was later named the King’s Men.
He is one of the greatest Elizabethan writers, a time when tragedies and courtly love were popular themes in literary works.
TEXTUAL BACKGROUND
“SONNET 12 “IS Part of 154 sonnets written by Shakespeare out of which sonnets 1-17 urged a young man to marry and procreate. The poem further expatiates the themes of the immortality of man and the arts, as well as the effects of nature and time.
Shakespeare posits that time is destructive to man’s existence and that to overcome this, man must ‘leave a copy of himself’-offspring behind for posterity.
STRUCTURE
“Sonnet 12” follows the structure of a typical Shakespearean sonnet.
It consists of 14 lines of which 12 belong to three quatrains and the last two belong to the couplet, with rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Reflecting on this structure, the first three quatrains develop an argument of despair, and the couplet suggests a (somewhat) hopeful resolution.
However, the argument of the poem may also be seen as reflecting the older structure of the Petrarchan sonnet: lines one through eight are the octave which concerns the decay that occurs in nature, and these lines are connected through alliteration. Line nine through fourteen forms a rhetorical sestet concerning the decay of the beloved.
The first line is often cited as (appropriately) displaying a metronomic regularity:
× / × / × / × / × /
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
The setting of “Sonnet 12”
Sonnet 12 is a procreation sonnet in the ‘Fair Youth’ sequence. It deals with the effect that time has on several beautiful things in the natural world. These images are juxtaposed with the appeal that the speaker makes to the young man, namely, procreation to preserve his beauty.
SUBJECT MATTER
Like sonnets 1 and 2, the speaker attempts to convince the young man to procreate to pass on his beauty to the next generation. To do this, the speaker invokes several elements from the natural world. He makes references to the day descending into the night, a ‘violet past prime’, greying hair, trees without leaves, and the grass cut up and dried as hay. Using this series of images showing the effect of time on the natural world, the poet tries to justify his concern for the young man. He states that the young man will, one day, vanish into the ‘wastes of time. The only way for his beauty to escape the passage of time would be through his progeny.
ANALYSIS OF “SONNET 12”
Quatrain 1:
The speaker begins with a series of images to illustrate the effect of time. He begins with the image of time itself in the form of a clock. He then brings up images from the natural world. He mentions a sunset; a drooping violet; and white hair among once-black curls. These images are natural and organic. Although they may appear unrelated, all of them emphasize the effect of time.
Quatrain 2
In the second quatrain, the speaker invokes images from autumn. The trees shed their leaves in this season. These ‘lofty trees….barren of leaves once offered shade to herds, but are now unable to do so. The grass which was green all summer has been cut up and arranged in sheaves of hay. A bier is a structure used to carry a co**se to the grave. The sheaves of hay remind the speaker of the co**se of an old man, with ‘white and bristly beard’ being carried to the grave.
Quatrain 3
After invoking these images of the effects of time, the speaker directly addresses the young man. He states that there is no question, that the young man’s beauty will also face the effects of time. ‘Sweets and beauties’, refer to inner virtues and outer beauty respectively and both, as per the speaker, fade away with time.
Final couplet
In the final couplet, the poet personifies time as the Grim Reaper (Death) holding a scythe. The speaker mentions that it is impossible to escape the scythe of time except through progeny.
