Shakespeare+Sonnet+1+detailed+analysis

SHAKESPEARE'S SONNET #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,// //Thy self 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, mak'st waste in niggarding:// //Pity the world, or else this glutton be,// //To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.//

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/1

DETAILED ANALYSIS:

line 1: “fairest creatures we desire increase” = we want more attractive people; "rose" = metaphor of a flower - line 2: “thereby beauty’s rose might never die” = reproduction of attractive people will eternalize beauty thru generations - line 3: “as the riper should by time decease” eventually, everything that’s beautiful will lose its beauty and die - line 5: “self-substantial fuel” = you’re self-consumed - line 7 “thyself thy foe” = he’s too introverted, too hard on hisself - “world’s fresh ornament” = ornament, thing of beauty = something precious, something to be held as special - line 9-10 = same thought - lines 13-14 (Couplet): if you don’t reproduce, your beauty will die
 * o Similar to Spenser’s //Amoretti =// flower metaphor in Sonnet 1
 * o “tender heir might bear his memory = still talking about why reproduction is valuable
 * o Too self-consumed to think about starting your own family
 * o Saying the person needs to not think about his/herself so much
 * o “Making a famine where abundance lies” = if a person doesn’t reproduce, he’s wasting his opportunity
 * o “Within thine own bud buriest thy content” = through reproduction, you’ll find happiness. You’ll be fulfilling your ability to be a father and you’ll be happy in the process. Here, the word “content” has a double-meaning
 * o “tender” = refers to his physical features
 * o “churl” = refers to him
 * o “niggarding” = “hoarding” = as in hoarding beauty
 * o Be a glutton by wasting