In me thou see'st the glowing of such fireĬonsumed with that which it was nourish'd by. Which by and by black night doth take away,ĭeath's second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou seest the twilight of such day Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,īare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang That time of year thou mayst in me behold However, in the final couplet, the speaker talks directly to his lover about how his advanced age makes the remaining time they have together more precious. Using beautiful imagery of the changing seasons and ending daylight, he reveals that the speaker is aged. In this poem, Shakespeare explores the theme of mortality as it relates to love. So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.Īnother famous Shakespearean sonnet is Sonnet 73. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st: Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,Īnd every fair from fair sometime declines,īy chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,Īnd summer’s lease hath all too short a date However, in the final couplet, the real meaning is revealed: Writing about the beauty of the subject makes that beauty immortal. What is certain is that the speaker compares the subject to a beautiful summer’s day, acknowledging that even the most perfect day will fade. Some people believe that Shakespeare wrote this sonnet for a man, but no one is sure. It deals with the themes of beauty and love but also of the timelessness of art. Sonnet 18 is one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. This couplet, the last two lines of the poem, reveals the entire point of the sonnet: The speaker does not need to exaggerate the beauty of his mistress to love her deeply. It’s almost an insulting poem until you get to the final two lines:Īnd yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare Her breath is not as lovely as perfume and may even have an unpleasant odor. Not every Shakespearean sonnet lets the form control the meaning in this way, but many do.įor example, in Sonnet 13, the first 12 lines are making ordinary and even unfavorable comparisons about the beauty of the speaker’s mistress. Then in the final couplet, the true meaning of the poem is revealed. The three quatrains that make up the first 12 lines explore a common theme. In many cases, the Shakespearean sonnet form also affects the content of a poem.

Shakespeare iambic pentameter sonnets