Summary Sonnet 127, which begins the sequence dealing with the poet’s relationship to his mistress, the Dark Lady, defends the poet’s unfashionable taste in brunettes. In Elizabethan days, so the poet tells us, black was not considered beautiful: “In the old age black was not counted fair, / Or, if […]
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Summary Sonnet 126 is the last of the poems about the youth, and it sums up the dominant theme: Time destroys both beauty and love. However, the poet suggests that the youth, “Who hast by waning grown and therein show’st / Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow’st,” remains […]
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Summary For the poet, love is not a matter of external pride — that is, he is not interested in his rivals’ self-frustrating displays of false love (lines 1–2). The language here is philosophical, and the first quatrain suggests that the poet’s public homage to the youth means little to […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 125Summary and Analysis Sonnet 124
Summary Developing further the theme of constancy from the previous sonnet, the poet argues that love — “that heretic” — is not subject to cancellation or change. Unlike other people’s love, which is “subject to Time’s love or to Time’s hate,” his constant love is not susceptible to injurious time: […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 124Summary and Analysis Sonnet 123
Summary The poet clearly denies that he is one of time’s fools, or one who acts only for immediate satisfaction: “No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change.” This theme of constancy is evident throughout the sonnet. After defiantly stating that he will not be duped into ending […]
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Summary Just as the poet gave a notebook to the youth in Sonnet 77, the youth has given the poet a notebook, which the poet discards. The poet, who knows more about the youth than any book can contain, says that he does not need a reminder of the young […]
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Summary The poet receives the same public reproof as the youth did earlier in the sonnets and is forced to consider whether or not his actions are immoral. Maintaining that “‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed / When not to be receives reproach of being,” under no circumstance […]
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Summary The poet and the youth now are able to appreciate traded injuries, with the poet neglecting the youth for his mistress and the youth committing a vague “trespass.” But their positions are only reversed in a rhetorical sense, for the poet still argues that they remain friends: “But that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 120Summary and Analysis Sonnet 119
Summary Arguing that his actions were impulsive and uncontrollable, the poet sincerely apologizes for betraying the youth. He describes the destruction of the relationship as tragic, for it is his most prized possession: “What wretched errors hath my heart committed, / Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never!” However, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 119Summary and Analysis Sonnet 118
Summary The poet now elaborates on lines 5 and 6 from the previous sonnet: “That I have frequent been with unknown minds / And given to time your own dear-purchased right.” Here in Sonnet 118, because a jaded appetite needs reviving, both the poet and the youth seek new, if […]
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