William Shakespeare - Sonnet 7

I am progressing through Shakespeare’s Sonnets, in order, so it seems.

Lo, in the Orient when the gracious light

Lifts up his burning head, each under eye

Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,

Serving with looks his sacred majesty;

And having climbed the steep-up heavenly hill,

Resembling strong youth in his middle age,

Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,

Attending on his golden pilgrimage.

But when from highmost pitch, with weary car,

Like feeble age he reeleth from the day,

The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are

From his low tract and look another way.

So thou, thyself out-going in thy noon,

Unlooked on diest unless thou get a son.

Once again, we have the voice of the poem urging the “Fair Youth” to have a child. Here, as Shakespeare has done in the proceeding Sonnets, the downside of refraining from procreation is illustrated by highlighting the subject’s virtues, but reminding him that such virtues are transitory. As we have also seen in the earlier poems, the reader is reminded that youth, though a wondrous thing, will eventually fade. Thus, the only way to maintain vitality, glory and life is through one’s decedents.

In this entry the path of the Sun in the sky is used as the allegory. What I think is interesting is the fact that the glory of the Sun is less praised than is the esteem that people in general have for the ascending orb. We are told, “each under eye Doth homage to his new-appearing sight, Serving with looks his sacred majesty.”

As per the theme of the work, as the magnificent Sun passes the noon hour and begins to set, the esteem of the world will inevitably fade, “The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are From his low tract and look another way.”

As I do with many aspects of the Sonnets, I find this to be a bit odd. The regard of the world is portrayed as fickle and transitory. It sets with the movement of the sun and thus also diminishes as an individual ages. Yet, the voice of the poem urges the subject of the poem to retain the favor of people who are so inconsistent. This favor will be obtained by creating another youth in the form of a son (it seems that the pun IS intended).

Taking a leap beyond the Sonnets, I also think that Shakespeare often shows distrust in the accolades of the masses. For instance, it seems to me that the valor of Henry V hid demagoguery, and the heights that Othello reached only made his fall that much harder.

So, what is one to make of this voice that urges the youth to procreate for such questionable motivations? This brings up an issue that I have only touched upon in some of my earlier posts. That is, one may suspect that the voice of the poem is not Shakespeare at all. Perhaps one can consider this speaker to be another one of the great poet’s characters. Such an interpretation certainly solves numerous other issues presented in the “Fair Youth” Sonnets. A Google search indicates lots of varying opinions as to what the intentions of these works are.

If we do assume that the voice of the poem is not Shakespeare, then it seems easier to label it as more than a little desperate. This is a persona that is willing to say anything and make any argument, even if faulty, in order to convince the “Fair Youth” to procreate. Of course, this line of reasoning leaves open the question as to why.

I am not so confident as to throw out this hypothesis as a definitive solution. Instead, I just put it out as an interesting possibility based on what I think of as circumstantial evidence.

A final word on this Sonnet: Regardless of Shakespeare’s intentions, I find the imagery here, that of a magnificent sun on the ascent and then eventually on the descent, to be particularly pleasing. When such a picture is wedded to the idea of a human life and it’s stages, the result is itself glorious.

My commentary on additional Sonnets:

Sonnet 1

Sonnet 2

Sonnet 3

Sonnet 4

Sonnets 5 and 6

Sonnet 66

Shakespeare’s Sonnet Number 3

When I delved into William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 2 I speculated about poem’s assertion that having children was a remedy against the despair of getting old and dying. As I ponder Sonnet 3 it seems that Shakespeare is developing this concept further.

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest,

Now is the time that face should form another,

Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,

Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.

For where is she so fair whose uneared womb

Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?

Or who is he so fond will be the tomb

Of his self-love, to stop posterity?

Thou art thy mother’s glass, and she in thee

Calls back the lovely April of her prime;

So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,

Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.

But if thou live remembered not to be,

Die single and thine image dies with thee.

Here we have a look at the connection and opposition between sex and death or creation and destruction. This often talked and written about association runs through several of the world’s cultures in the form of religion, literature, art, etc.  Several centuries later, Freud, who did not originate, but developed this theory extensively, argued that this was a natural, built - in part of the human psyche. I am somewhat skeptical of Feud’s claim though I do not completely disregard the possibility. Either way it seems that Shakespeare has tapped into and has built an aesthetic castle based upon this ubiquities concept.

In the above, the “tillage of thy husbandry” stands a defense against “the tomb Of his self-love.” The act of procreation is life’s compensation for the cold reality of human mortality. By having children, the object of the verse can triumph over the inevitable. Here Shakespeare seems to be illustrating that procreation is stronger then death.

Shakespeare conveys all this with language and imagery that is sublime. Of course one can put aside all the theorizing and speculation and just enjoy the words. I cannot wait to take a close look at more of these little aesthetic gems.

My commentary on the additional Sonnets:

Sonnet 1

Sonnet 2

Sonnet 66

Shakespeare Sonnet Number 2

This post is part of my ongoing ruminations about particular Shakespeare Sonnets. Though I will likely not indefinitely continue to run through the poems in numerical order, I may continue to cover the early entries in sequence since they are so closely related.

Thus, after sharing some thoughts on Sonnet Number One here, I am proceeding on to Sonnet Number Two.

 When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,

And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,

Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,

Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held:

Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies,

Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,

To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes,

Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.

How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,

If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine

Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,'

Proving his beauty by succession thine! 


This were to be new made when thou art old,

And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.


Another early entry in the “Fair Youth” sequence, this one also falls into the “Procreation “ subgroup. In other words, the message here continues to be that the worthy object of the sonnet should have children.

The argument in the first sonnet was that the young man owed it to the world to reproduce. Shakespeare moves on to a more selfish reason here; that is, the young man’s desire to leave something for posterity. The sonnet contends that having progeny will be a replacement for the lost glory of youth. In this case, the now older person will be living vicariously through his child or children. Such pleasures will warm the blood.

Once again, I am a bit puzzled as to the possible ironic connotations here. It could be that Shakespeare is playing with what can be construed as a silly notion, that one’s lost youth can be compensated by the youth and beauty of one’s offspring. Any reading of Shakespeare’s plays makes it clear that The Bard was well aware of the fact that children do not always turn out as expected.

Or it could be that the sonnet should be taken at face value; that is, there are some individuals that are so beautiful that their offspring would be as well, and the beauty of their children will compensate for the ravages of time. One might dismiss the possibility of a Goneril and Regan as the products of less than virtuous parents.

Googling this sonnet indicates that there is a fair amount of opinion out there that does take the sonnet as is, and some folks even accuse Shakespeare of being a eugenicist!

Shakespeare had a knack for expressing the dark side of life. Here, he describes the “proud livery” of youth yielding to “tatter'd weed, of small worth” and being observed through “deep-sunken eyes”. These are despairing images indeed. (A forty year old is described here! I suppose that folks were a bit less healthy back in 1609).  If we are to take the advice of the sonnet seriously, we must conclude that here the poet is offering a solution to such despair.

Either way, Shakespeare has left us with some great poetry. He has also provided us with something to think about. The issues explored here endure, as does our appreciation of the sublime nature in which they are expressed.

Commentary on other Shakespeare Sonnets:

Sonnet 1

Sonnet 66

Shakespeare's Sonnet Number 1

From time to time, I will continue my ruminations on a somewhat random Shakespeare sonnet. While I have no intention to move in numerical order or to cover every single sonnet, I found that, having intended on exploring Sonnet Number 11, I really wanted to take a look at the preceding Sonnets before doing so. The first 126 sonnets are a part of the “Fair Youth” sequence, in which the Bard is heaping copious praise as well as advice upon a young man. Critics have long debated whether these affections are platonic or not. The first eleven sonnets can be looked at as a subgroup, known as the Procreation Sonnets, and all closely relate to one another. Thus for now, I will jump back and ponder Sonnet Number 1.

From fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauty's rose might never die,

But as the riper should by time decease,

His tender heir might bear his memory:

But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,

Making a famine where abundance lies,

Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.

Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament

And only herald to the gaudy spring,

Within thine own bud buriest thy content

And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding.

Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

Obviously this is an exhortation to the worthy object to go forth and be fruitful and multiply. Furthermore, Shakespeare is ascribing the young man’s reluctance to do so as character weakness. The hesitation is compared to gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins. The religious connections, as well as the aesthetic beauty of the poem, raise this argument above the proverbial obnoxious friends and relatives who attempt to bully childless people into having families.

Still, this is a somewhat unfamiliar Shakespeare to me. To be sure, the art form of sonnets is very different from that of plays. However, I am accustomed to a Shakespeare who shows human nature and not one who tells us what he is thinking. I also find that the worldview that Shakespeare presents, at least in the plays, is more often than not cynical and at times even nihilistic. I include the comedies in this assessment. Yet, here is a voice advising someone what is right, as well as how to live and even what is beneficial to the world at large. “Pity the world” if you pass on without having children.

There are several possibilities. It could be that there is irony or parody here. A search through commentary on this group of sonnets does reveal a school of thought that this set of works is indeed a caricature of other poets and their works. I personally am having trouble detecting satire here, however. Or perhaps the “voice” of the poem may not really be Shakespeare but a character or point of view that he is simply projecting.

Of course, we sometimes forget that great artists produce their works over a number of years and may shift into different moods and outlooks from time to time. Perhaps in this eloquent but unusual expression of love, the great poet is exhibiting an antidote to the darkness of the world by a prescription for the beautiful to procreate.

Either way, there is one thing for certain. As Shakespeare urged his subject into creating something immortal in order to perpetuate beauty, he in turn created something immortal, thus perpetuating beauty, in this poetry.