3. When I consider every
thing that grows
Holds in perfection but
a little moment,
That this huge stage
presenteth nought but
shows
Whereon the stars in
secret influence
comment
4. When I perceive that
men as plants
increase,
Cheered and cheque'd
even by the self-
same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful
sap, at height
decrease,
And wear their brave
state out of memory;
5. Then the conceit of
this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in
youth before my
sight,
Where wasteful Time
debateth with
Decay,
To change your day
of youth to sullied
night;
6. And all in war with
Time for love of
you,
As he takes from
you, I engraft you
new.
7.
8. Images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koiart66/393352939
4/
http://stormyghost.deviantart.com/art/The-Dark-
Night-Sky-112117824
http://www.thekey2growth.com/AboutUs/WhyMak
ingSuccessInevitable/tabid/123/Default.aspx
http://www.flickr.com/photos/centralasian/552882
398/
http://darkknight1986.deviantart.com/art/Helping-
Hand-208312488
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christchurch/420347
120/
Wilting Rose. 25 January 2013, personal
photograph by Rachel Adams. JPEG file.
9. Text
Michael Schoenfeldt, A Companion to Shakespears’s
Sonnets. Malden, MA: Blackwell, Publishing 2007
pages 18-20
Dubrow, Heather, Shakespeare’s undramatic
monologue: toward a reading of the sonnets.
Shakespeare Quarterly.1981;Vol 32, no.1:page 58
Crosman, Robert. Making Love out of Nothing at
All: The Issue of Story in Shakespeare's
Procreation Sonnets. Shakespeare Quarterly.
1990; Vol 42, no 4:page 484
Editor's Notes
Sonnet 15 is contained in both the Fair Youth Sequence and the Procreation Sequence. The procreation sequence is sonnets 1-17, and focuses on a young man, to which the poems are addressed, and to whom the writer is attempting to convince to marry and reproduce. Some Shakespearean scholars believe sonnet 15 to be proof that the sonnets of the Procreation sequence were not written in order, as it mentions nothing of marriage, a key topic in the previous sonnets. (Crosman p 484)
The thought that perfection and beauty can only be attained for a very short amount of time raises the question, why is something so short, something so impossible to hold onto, held so highly? Shakespeare’s illusion to the Earth, the world as a huge stage, casting people as performers, and the stars as the audience creates a profound image to consider. Shakespeare seems to put us in our place, showing how unimportant we are humans are in the grand scheme of things. As previously mentioned, many scholars, including Shakespeare Quarterly’s Robert Crosman, believe the sonnets to be out of sequence, especially sonnet 15; however, the references to the stars continues the imagery begun in the preceding sonnets. (Crosman p 484)Shakespeare’s decision to reference general events, “when I consider everything that grows” rather than specific events, or even seasons, makes his work relatable to the common man, and able to stand the test of time. “Nothing in the poem strikes the reader as seen only “in terms of” everything is presented in multiple terms- more as it is that as it is understood” ( Shoenfeldt, p 20)
The writer’s observation that people and plants follow the same cycle of life is unique, and brings an interesting idea to what life really is. Confident and proud in their youth, the subject (and most people) relies on their looks and seemingly invincibleness. However, once the peak of beauty is reached, and decay sets in, all that is left for the subject to live off of, is their past, what they once were. This quatrain once again supports the opposition to the idea of the procreation series being out of order: the continuous references to the sky, throughout the poem and in this quatrain, support the claim that Sonnet 15 does belong in this sequence. (Crosman, p484)The “informal” sound pattern used by Shakespeare, especially present in this quatrain, uniquely links concepts that would not be typically linked, and creates an altogether connectedness of the sonnet. “They [the multiple sound patterns] help the poem give a sense of the intense and universal relevance of all things to all other things.” (Schoenfeldt p 19)
The third quatrain focuses on the mutability of life, (“inconsistent stay,”) where one’s pride and vanity in fleeting beauty only sets you up for the disappointment later in life. While the subject in the sonnet was obviously once very beautiful in their youth, the constant battery of decay versus time, has removed all of the subjects highly valued looks and youthfulness, in exchange for the decrepitness of old age. Shakespeare Quarterly’s Heather Dubrow makes an interesting tie between the subject of this quatrain and the words used to describe it. All in all, she says that the “horrors” of time being so deftly portrayed by Shakespeare, stands in sharp contrast to the his seeming avoidance to make any “roots” to time as we know it (Dubrow, P 58)
The couplet dramatically changes the tone of the poem from that of decay to the new life that love can bring. The speaker is in conflict-not just any conflict though, a self described war-with Time, who steals life from his beloved. The speaker’s love is all powerful to his lover, it is capable of reversing the effects of Time, those that none can escape. Yet the act of being deeply loved by someone brings a youthful take on life, that that not even time can destroy. Shakespeare Quarterly’s Robert Crosman traces the story written throughout the previous sonnets, and equates the fear to what may happen if reproduction fails: the writer is afraid of what may happen to his beloved, that he may be forgotten, if he doesn’t reproduce and leave something behind. The writer discovers a solution, he shall take the embodiment of his beloved, and make him immortal, through the poetry. (Crosman, p 484)
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 15 is a testament to true love and it’s rejuvenation of all that time and decay remove from us. The Sonnet, and most of Shakespeare’s are, as Shakespeare Quarterly’s Heather Dubrow says, “neither narrative, nor dramatic,” but rather a stream of consciousness, featuring the sharp contrast of emotion and judgements. The Writer portrays the poem in the “Eternal Present,” and focuses on commonly recurring events, rather that a specific occurrence of it. (Dubrow, p 58) It is this aspect that makes Shakespeare’s sonnets relevant even today.
