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Sonnet 13 Analysis

Sonnet 13 is one of the procreation sonnets, Sonnets from 1 to 17 are called procreation sonnets cause the speaker encourages the young man to have children who would inherit his beauty.In the first line of this quatrain, he questions what sort of man would let his beautiful house to "fall to decay" and destruction. Further to this, a well-maintained house is supposed to offer warmth and protection to its inhabitants from the ravages of winter. Similarly, the young man should maintain his beauty and protect it against aging and death. The second line of the quatrain "which husbandry in honour might uphold" indicates that this beautiful house which refers to the beauty of the young man can only be well managed and can resist against the destruction of time which is symbolised in the "stormy gusts of winter's day" by making an honourable marriage.As he extends his advice to the young man, the speaker uses a metaphor which appears in his use of the term "lease". This term refers to owning a property for a temporary period of time. Hence, the speaker tends to remind the young man that his beauty which he possesses now is leased to him for a short period of time. Therefore, in order for this beauty to find no "determination" which means "end", the young man is urged to replicate his beauty in a child since his "sweet issue" that means his "child" is expected to inherit the "sweet form" of his father.

Sonnet 13 Analysis

Sonnet 13 is one of the procreation sonnets, Sonnets from 1 to 17 are called procreation sonnets cause the speaker encourages the young man to have children who would inherit his beauty. In sonnet, the speaker is concerned about the possibility that death will conquer the beauty of the recipient who we might refer to as the young man. Hence, the speaker urges the young man to procreate and leave an image of himself through fathering a child.

Quatrain one:

The speaker begins by addressing the young man saying "O that you were yourself" which suggests that the young man is not in charge of his life and that eventually he must prepare for his death by leaving a child behind after his death and transferring his beauty "sweet semblance" to them. It can be suggested that this quatrain acts as a piece of advice from the speaker to the young man, asking him to have children before he dies. Also, it can be noticed that the verbs in the first quatrain are postponed, meaning they are placed in the end of the four verses. This postponement of verbs "are, live, prepare and give" signifies an emphasis of advice that the young man should hurry and get married.

Quatrain two:

In this Quatrain, the speaker furthers his plea to the young man, stating that his beauty will be vanquished by death if he dies without leaving a child. As he extends his advice to the young man, the speaker uses a metaphor which appears in his use of the term "lease". This term refers to owning a property for a temporary period of time. Hence, the speaker tends to remind the young man that his beauty which he possesses now is leased to him for a short period of time. Therefore, in order for this beauty to find no "determination" which means "end", the young man is urged to replicate his beauty in a child since his "sweet issue" that means his "child" is expected to inherit the "sweet form" of his father. In short, this quatrain extends the advice of the poet to the young man that he should prepare himself for death by begetting a child in order for his beauty to survive.

Quatrain Three:

In this quatrain, the poet uses another metaphor, in that he compares the beauty of the young man to a house. In the first line of this quatrain, he questions what sort of man would let his beautiful house to "fall to decay" and destruction. Further to this, a well-maintained house is supposed to offer warmth and protection to its inhabitants from the ravages of winter. Similarly, the young man should maintain his beauty and protect it against aging and death. The second line of the quatrain "which husbandry in honour might uphold" indicates that this beautiful house which refers to the beauty of the young man can only be well managed and can resist against the destruction of time which is symbolised in the "stormy gusts of winter's day" by making an honourable marriage. So, through this marriage, the young man will leave children behind who will représent his beauty