Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 13 |
1.
yourself: i.e., only your essential self, not subject to time and change.
3.
Against: in expectation of. this coming end: i.e., the certain end of your life.
3-4.
you should . . . your sweet semblance to some other give: you should give your beautiful appearance to another person (i.e., a child).
6.
determination: end. Like "lease" in the previous line, "determination" is a legal term; the poet's point is that the fair youth's beautiful appearance is not something he owns, but only something for which he has a lease which will soon end.
8.
When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear: i.e., when your beautiful children will reproduce your beautiful appearance.
10.
husbandry: prudent management.
12.
barren rage: ravaging which produces barrenness.
13.
unthrifts: those who waste their possessions.