Sonnet​ 12
Original Sonnet
Introduction
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 all silvered o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard;
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 grow,
And nothing 'gainst Time’s scythe can make a defense
Save breed to brave him when he takes thee hence.
Sonnet 12 resonates with me the most because it makes me reflect on the passage of time. I was intrigued by the imagery of “the brave day sunk in hideous night.” The scene reminded me of my special memories growing up in a small city, Ningbo. When I was in elementary school, every day after school I would follow my grandma along the narrow streets on the way back home. Under the sunset, my grandma always watched me rush around different vendors filled with traditional delicacies and kindly told me to be careful while running. I also love how Shakespeare compares time to a scythe at the end of the sonnet. Unfortunately, the time remaining for us to be kind to each other is always shorter than we might think. Time is irreversible and will only move forward.
Analysis - Time and Season in the First Octet
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12 opens with an octet that is packed with imagery and metaphors reflecting the passage of time. In the first line, Shakespeare uses the verbs “count” and “tells” to describe the ticking of the clock as a representation of time. Then, in the second line, the vivid imagery of “the brave day sunk in hideous night” displays the sunset scenery. The quick alternation of the day and night illustrates how rapidly every moment of our lives slips away. The third and the fourth lines use specific examples such as the withering violet and the senescence of human beings with the imagery of black hair going white. Time, such an abstract idea, becomes a concrete process because the imagery is humanized. In the fifth and sixth lines, Shakespeare depicts plants to emphasize the passage of nature. The different methods that Shakespeare employs to describe time show that the aging and decaying of living creatures are inevitable. The devastating effect of aging is made even more poignant by the metaphor of how tall trees once “canopy the herd.” Finally, in the last two lines, Shakespeare utilizes the metaphor to compare season changes to death. Nature is almost anthropomorphized as summer’s harvest becomes a dead man “with white and bristly beard” in the coffin. The metaphor refers to the fertility of both land and children which implies that reproducing children is the best way to combat time. The warning of having children is indeed developed by Shakespeare as the sonnet continues. Plenty of imagery throughout the octet highlight the inexorable force of time.
