What is Love without a bit of
denial? What better denial than that involving old age? In a bid to bridge the
implied generational chasm between himself and the Fair Youth, Shakespeare
simply rejects 'old' age and would rather measure his progression by that of the Youth
seeing as by their Love, they have exchanged in a proverbial sense.
Interestingly, this was a fairly popular leitmotif among Elizabethan sonneteers
and was popularised by Petrarch's Sonnet 48.
The
first two lines outline clearly the notion that is to be the basis for the rest
of the Sonnet, that is "Shakespeare will not accept aging as long as the
Fair Youth is still young." In a few of the previous Sonnets, the persona
clearly states that through his poetry, the Youth will live forever. A reversal
of roles seems to be implied now where Shakespeare is in this moment living
through the Fair Youth. The perfect give-and-take relationship some would say
and yet there just seems to be some sort of peculiarity about the whole
arrangement.
As
a continuation to the idea that the Youth is his 'hourglass,' Shakespeare seems
to acknowledge that Time will inevitably run ragged on himself and the Youth. "...when
in thee time's furrows I behold...,"the persona shall know that death is
nigh. On the face of it, it seems a rather simple concept; when the Youth
becomes old then Shakespeare will have
or should be near meeting his end, just a normal progression of time. However,
Lines 5 and 6 bring forth a rather surprising twist to the tale. Considering
that "... all that beauty that doth cover thee...Is but the seemly raiment
of my heart," ( the Youth's beauty is the very embodiment of Shakespeare's
heart) it becomes clear that the poet is not accepting his demise at that point
because he is old but rather because the Fair Youth's beauty has waned and
there is nothing more to live for. Nothing to admire and nothing to write
about. It appears the famous bard is in this one just for the looks.
The
third quatrain is basically a plea for caution. Caution that the persona
promises to also exercise apparently not for his sake but for the Fair Youth.
One has to guess what sort of afflictions the two should be wary of, but
bearing in mind the emergence of a rival in Sonnet 21, it seems the plea is for
the Fair Youth to shy away from promiscuity in whatever sense applies to this seemingly
non-sexual relationship.
Whilst
the concluding couplet appears to imply that
Shakespeare will forever love the Youth (not return his heart); it is rather
sad to note that the coinciding implication is that the Fair Youth will fail to
preserve the love, "... when mine is slain." Is it wise to walk into
a relationship you think will fail? Will the other party really make an effort
if you predict failure from the onset?
A
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