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Sonnet 1

By William Shakespeare

(Poem + Analysis)

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 1, ‘From fairest creatures we desire increase,’ appeals to the Fair Youth to
procreate and preserve his beauty.

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William Shakespeare

Nationality: English

William Shakespeare is considered to be one of the most important English-language writers.

His plays and poems are read all over the world.

Key Poem Information

Central Message: Preservation of beauty through procreation is paramount

Themes: Aging, Beauty, Birth, Desire, Immortality

Speaker: Unknown, likely a male

Emotions Evoked: Anger, Frustration, Hope, Passion

Poetic Form: Shakespearean Sonnet

Time Period: 16th Century

Introducing the unconventional choice of a male muse, Shakespeare's Sonnet 1 establishes the poet's
captivating exploration of youth, beauty, immortality, transience, and time, setting the stage for the
subsequent 154 sonnets.

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Huw Thomas

Poem Analyzed by Huw Thomas

Studied English Literature, Creative Writing, and Film up to Post Graduate Level

The writer dwells on beauty, virtue, self-consumption, and the passing of human life through time. In
particular, ‘Sonnet 1‘ (as well as many of the other sonnets) includes references to the love the writer
holds for an unnamed young man. This young man is elevated above all else and praised.

Not only is ‘Sonnet 1‘ used to open the general collection of Shakespeare’s shorter poems, but it opens a
shorter sequence (or around 17 sonnets) that speaks directly to this young man.

Meter SyllablesSonnet 1

William Shakespeare
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,

Thyself 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.

Sonnet 1 - From fairest creatures we desire increase by William Shakespeare

Structure

The structure of William Shakespeare‘s poem, ‘Sonnet 1‘, adheres to the form of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

The first quatrain (four lines) deals with the moral premise. Here, the writer puts forward the idea that
beauty should always try to propagate.

In the second quatrain, the subject (the young man) is accused of violating this moral premise and it is
suggested that he wastes his beauty on himself rather than spreading it around the world. By the third
quatrain, the focus shifts to trying to convince the young man to change his ways, lest his beauty
vanishes over time.
The final couplet (the last two lines) sums up the entire argument of the piece, adding an extra plea that
the subject should “pity the world” and pass on his beauty in the form of a child.

As ever in Shakespearean sonnets, the lines are written in strict iambic pentameter. This means ten
syllables to each line, with syllables being unstressed and stressed alternatively. The rhyme scheme is
simple: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GH. This structure serves to break up the whole poem into easily digestible
sections and makes analysis easier.

Analysis of Sonnet 1

Lines 1-4

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:

Shakespeare uses the first four lines to set out his main ideas for ‘Sonnet 1′. Each of the lines takes up
one particular idea. The first discusses the importance of procreation to humans, the second suggests
that this is how we can remain immortal, the third line introduces the threat of time passing, and the
fourth sums all of these up by revealing the “tender heir” who is the representation of immortality for
his parents, but will, in turn, grow old and pass away.

The idea behind ‘Sonnet 1‘ is that, if we want to live forever, then the only way is to have children.
These children will continue our names long after we pass, while a lack of procreation will lead to a quick
demise.
Lines 5-8

But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed’st thy light’st flame with self-substantial fuel,

Making a famine where abundance lies,

Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.

As much as the first four lines strive to put forward an idea, the next four show that the subject (the
young man) rejects the idea wholeheartedly. Chiding the young man for this approach, for being too
self-absorbed, the poet admits that he is still “contracted” to the subject’s “bright eyes” and continues
this imagery by suggesting that they are “self-sustainable fuel.” Addressed as “thou,” the subject seems
to be only interested in themselves, rather than propagating their incredible beauty.

The narcissistic, destructive approach is condemned by the poet, whose choice of vocabulary takes a
negative turn. “Famine” and “cruel” are the word choices when describing the subject’s approach,
making it seem as though the young man’s decisions are inherently unhealthy. In all, the poet suggests
that the young man is his own worst enemy and does not yet realize the importance of passing on his
beauty to the next generation.

Lines 9-12

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, makest waste in niggarding.

By the time we reach the third quatrain of ‘Sonnet 1‘, the poet has decided that – while the young man
may indeed be beautiful – his subject will eventually lose his good looks. Even though the subject might
be the “world’s fresh ornament,” he will only serve to “herald the gaudy spring.”

Eventually, his beauty will fade and, if he does not pass on his beauty to the next generation, then he
will be left with nothing. “Bud” in this context calls back to the rose talked about in the second line. An
enduring image of perfection, the rose is a metaphor for the idea of beauty. It blooms, is appreciated,
and then fades away. Unless it passes on its genes to the next generation in the form of a “bud,” then
the world will never again be able to enjoy the aesthetic quality of this particular rose. So, then, the rose
becomes a warning, threatening the young man with the idea that he might wither and die himself.

Lines 13-14

Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.

During the final two lines, the poet throws the concern open to the wider world. He encourages the
subject to not just have sympathy for himself or for the poet, but that he should “pity the world.” The
gluttonous grave, he threatens, will eat up the beauty of the young man and it would be selfish to rob
such a thing from the rest of the world. There’s a continuing sense of injustice about the loss of
propagation. The idea of the famine from the previous quatrain is referenced again, with “glutton” and
“eat the world’s due” both bringing food metaphors into the piece.

Throughout the piece, the poet accuses the subject of hoarding all of the youthful beauty for himself.
This is greedy, he suggests, and selfish. It robs not only the poet of the chance to appreciate enduring
beauty, but is a slight against the entire world. The constant hunger metaphors seem to speak of the
craving that the poet has for the subject, while the traditional use of the sonnet – a love poem – brings
into question the motivation of Shakespeare in writing the piece.

As seen in the other poems, ‘Sonnet 1‘ serves to introduce the core concepts that concern
Shakespeare’s shorter works. Beauty, love, and the passage of time are all ideas that will be dwelled
upon and modified as we journey through the rest of the collection.