Summary and Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 5

Summary and Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 5 

Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,                 (Time passed slowly while you were young and everyone loved to look at you)
Will play the tyrants to the very same
And that unfair which fairly doth excel;                                            ( But it will overtake you)

For never-resting time leads summer on                                          ( As summer must give way to winter)
To hideous winter, and confounds him there;                               
Sap checked with frost, and lusty leaves quite gone,                        (And will become transformed with age)
Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness every where:

Then were not summer's distillation left,             (Then, if there weren't a bit of youth left hidden behind the appearance of old age)
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,          ( The effect your beauty once had would be completely forgotten)
Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was:

 But flowers distill'd, though they with winter meet,                    

 Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet. 

(But though your outward appearance changes, the essence of what you are remains beautiful.)

Sonnet 5 Analysis

The first quatrain explains the results of passing of time.  The lyrical voice explains how time, even though it made the young man beautiful in his early age, will eventually make him older and take away his beauty. Beauty is associated with youth (“Those hour that with gentle work did frame/ The lovely gaze where every eye doth well”) and aging, on the other hand, destroys this good looks (“Will play the tyrants to the very same/and that unfair which fairly doth excel”).

The second quatrain furthers the negative consequences of aging. Youth is linked to summertime, whereas old age relates to winter.  The process of aging destroys beauty (“Beauty o’er-snowed and bareness everywhere”), and takes the summer out of life by turning it into winter (“For never-resting time leads summer on/To hideous winter and confound him there”). Again, there is a personification of time, as it accentuates the effects that time will have on the young man’s life and the force it possesses because of its constant enforcement (“For never-resting time”, “To hideous winter”). There is alliteration on the third line (“Sap checked with frost and lusty leaves quite gone”). The tone of the poem gets more dramatic as the lyrical voice describes in more detail the consequences of the passing of time. Furthermore, there is a pessimist tone, as the lyrical voice concludes the quatrain by saying that beauty will eventually disappear (“Beauty over-snowed and bareness everywhere”).

The third quatrain depicts the necessity of preserving beauty. Both summer and beauty, associated with youth, are ephemeral. The lyrical voice expresses that there is a possibility of forgetting about beauty if it is carried away by the force of aging. There is a repetition on the third line, accentuating the importance of beauty (“Beauty’s effects with beauty were bereft”) and there is alliteration in the last line (“Nor it nor no remembrance what it was”). The tone of the poem continues to be dramatic and pessimist, as the lyrical voice describes the possibility of beauty disappearing with old age.

The final couplet explains how beauty can be protected. “flowers distilled” refer to the extraction of perfume, where the visible and the physical are extracted and the essence of the flower remains. This is an extended metaphor to continue talking about preserving beauty. For the lyrical voice, the only way to conserve beauty is to prolong its essence by having children. And, despite of aging, the lyrical voice could keep his beauty if he decides to procreate.

Glossary

distill(ed) reduced to the essence.

gaze : object gazed at.

unfair : deprive of beauty (the only place it is used by Shakespeare).

fairly : beautifully and legitimately.

confounds : destroys.

checked : halted.

distillation : perfume distilled from flowers. 

bereft (11): lost.

Leese (14): lose

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, also known as Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon, was baptized in 1564 and died in 1616. Although his date of birth is not certain, he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor and it is considered by many as one of the greatest dramatists of all times. He was often referred as the English National Poet. William Shakespeare was married to Anne Hathaway and they had three children (Susanna Hall, Hamnet Shakespeare and Judith Quiney). Over the years, his plays have been staged all over the world and translated into every major language. Up to this day, Shakespeare’s works are still incredibly popular and are constantly studied, read, and interpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts.