Sonnet 12
Encyclopedia
Sonnet XII is another of Shakespeare's
procreation sonnets
. The poet goes through a series of images of mortality, such as a clock, a withering flower, a barren tree and autumn, etc. Then, at the "turn" at the beginning of the third quatrain
, the poet admits that the young man to whom the poem is addressed must go among the "wastes of time" just as all of the other images mentioned. The only way he can fight against Time, Shakespeare proposes, is by breeding and making a copy of himself.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
procreation sonnets
Procreation sonnets
The term procreation sonnets is a name given to Shakespearean sonnets numbers I to XVII .They are referred to as the procreation sonnets because they all argue that the young man to whom they are addressed should marry and father children, hence procreate...
. The poet goes through a series of images of mortality, such as a clock, a withering flower, a barren tree and autumn, etc. Then, at the "turn" at the beginning of the third quatrain
Quatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
, the poet admits that the young man to whom the poem is addressed must go among the "wastes of time" just as all of the other images mentioned. The only way he can fight against Time, Shakespeare proposes, is by breeding and making a copy of himself.
Interpretations
- Martin Jarvis, for the 2002 compilation albumCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, When Love SpeaksWhen Love SpeaksWhen Love Speaks is a compilation album that features interpretations of William Shakespeare's sonnets and excerpts from his plays by famous actors and musicians, released under EMI Classics in April 2002.-Track listing:...
(EMIEMI ClassicsEMI Classics is a record label of EMI, formed in 1990 in order to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogs for internationally distributed classical music releases....
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