Sonnet 2

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< Sonnet 2 >

When forty winters shall besiege 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.
–William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's 2nd sonnet is another procreation sonnet and inquiry into Time's destruction of Beauty, urging the young man of the sonnet to have a child.

[edit] Synopsis and analysis

The theme of necessary procreation found in Sonnet 1 continues into Sonnet 2. The man's beauty will be lost and become like a "tattered weed." "Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held" unless he reproduces. People will ask where his beauty is "Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies."

The only way for this beauty to be preserved is to have a son. Therefore when the man described is old, his heir will be young — "This were to be new made when thou art old."

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