Free Essay: Analysis of Sonnet 12 :: Sonnet essays

Analysis of Sonnet 12   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 oer-silverd all with white When rare trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summers green all girded up in sheaves Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard and 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 heighten And nothing gainst Times scythe can make defence save breed to brave him when he takes thee hence.     This is an enjoyable sonnet that uses nature imagery, found extensively in Petrarca, that Shakespeare uses to get his point across. Not much explication is needed, aside the sustained images of nature, to fully understand its intent, but I would like to point out a amusing allusion. When reading line 3, the violet pa st prime has made me think of genus Venus and genus Adonis. In the end, Adonis melts into the earth and a violet sprouts where his body was, which Venus then places in her heart, signifying the love she has for him. Reading this into the poem makes the few following lines more significant. Having Adonis portrayed as the handsome youth, Shakespeare is alluding to the death of youth (in world(a) and to the young man) through the sonnet. In the next line, it is not certain if sable is an adjective or a noun and if curls is a noun, referring to hair (which is plausible) or a verb modifying sable. Invoking the allusion to Adonis here, Shakespeare portends that if Adonis did live longer, he too would have greying hair thus, Shakespeare sees behold an Adonis figure, the young man, past his youth.