Sonnet 11

Sonnet 11

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest.
Herein lives wisdom, beauty and increase:
Without this, folly, age and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease
And threescore year would make the world away.
Let those whom Nature hath not made for store,
Harsh featureless and rude, barrenly perish:
Look, whom she best endow'd she gave thee more;
Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish:
She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby
Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

–William Shakespeare

Sonnet 11 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is a procreation sonnet within the Fair Youth sequence.

In the sonnet, the speaker reasons that even as the young man ages, it is Nature's will that someone of his beauty should procreate and make a copy of himself.

Synopsis and analysis

Sonnet 11’s opening line, “As fast as thou shalt wane so fast thou grow’st,” echoes the maxim, “Youth waineth by increasing,” an aside of the elderly, with which Shakespeare will conclude the series of sonnets to the young man at Sonnet 126. 1 It was associated with Narcissus who wasted away as he grew as a youth. Here the aphorism is used allusively to argue for procreation.[1]

The "fresh blood” can be read as ‘new life’ or ‘life-blood’ (or even ‘semen’, which was thought a distillation of blood). While young or in a young way (“youngly”) he may claim as his or bestow his name upon (“call thine”) a child, for when he changes from his early years (“convertest”). Otherwise the youth will "decay" without creating new life.[1]

In the sestet, Shakespeare's uses the language of stone and carving, which echoes the story of the creation of man from Ovid, available at that time in Golding's translation. Nature has “caru’d” out the youth so that he is no longer a rudely shaped impression in stone. He is a perfectly shaped, featured figure, which nature has carved and stamped as an authentic, validated and perfect copy, intending that the youth should stamp further copies (“should’st print more”), not stand alone like an unused die or pattern that can only die (“not let that copy die”).[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Larsen, Kenneth J.. "Sonnet 11". Essays on Shakespeare's Sonnets. Retrieved 23 November 2014.

Further reading

External links