At the start of the poem it starts of and describes the effects of time to his friend’s beauty. This is unusual as he usually describes his friend’s beauty and compares it to something else. From line 1-9 Shakespeare describes the damage time could do to his beauty.
Line 1 describes as “forty winters” pass and then in line 2 there will be “deep trenches in thy beauty’s field” meaning wrinkles on his face. Wrinkles will wreck his friend’s beauty and time will form the wrinkles. In lines 3 and 4 Shakespeare tells us that look at the beautiful face while it lasts, when it’s young, but afterwards time will destroy it and it will be worth as little as a “tatter’d weed”. The tone changes in lines 5 and 6 and a rhetorical question is asked in both lines. “Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies”, and “Where all the treasure of thy lusty days”. Shakespeare is asking where is the beauty of your youthful days, where has it gone? Lines 7, 8 and 9 suggest that when he is old and his eyes are deep sunken into their sockets, he will only then think of what use he could have put his beauty to rather than greed and self obsession. He then asks a question who deserves more beauty than you do? Lines 10, 11 and 12 go on to say that if he had a child now when he is old if only he could say “this fair child of mine” shall give an account of my life and prove that I made no misuse of my time on earth. Lines 13 and 14 say he will have relief when his is old if he has someone new to carry on his beauty and he would see his own warm blood flow through his son when he is cold.
Many descriptive words have been used and different language techniques have also been used and are very important in Shakespeare’s poems as it gives us more insight and interest in reading the poem as responders.
Rhyme has also been included in the sonnet. The rhyme pattern is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. This is a technique of the poem. This technique is used to get the poem to flow nicely.
Shakespeare has used many metaphors throughout the poem, which have bee used to give the image of aging. “Dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field” is saying that his face is a field of beauty and that as he ages trenches will be dug in the beautiful fields to spoil the beauty. This means that the trenches in the beautiful fields are the wrinkles that will occur on his face as he ages. The use of metaphors interests the responder and also positions the responder to feel badly about time.
The use of adjectives sets the atmosphere and what being old is really like. “Deep sunken eyes” and “tottered weed” are all words describing the effects of time. This gives us an impression on being old and how Shakespeare thinks of how being old is like and what you look like when your old.
Shakespeare also uses rhetorical questions. His asking the young man “Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies” and “Where all the treasure of thy lusty days” are all examples of rhetorical questions.
