Many of Shakespeare’s sonnets use topics such as time and weather to drive home a certain belief. Sonnet 12 is a seasonal sonnet. Shakespeare uses many mentions of seasons. Lines 4 through 8 are an indication of winter, which we have already learned is synonymous with old age. Line 5 is particularly important; “When lofty trees I see barren of leaves”. Here, barren can mean bare, but it can also mean something entirely different. It can also be interpreted to mean infertile, or unable to have children. Because Shakespeare is urging the young man to have children, this is an important line. Line 8 is also very important because it has a double meaning: “Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard”. One meaning of the word bier is wheelbarrow; the other is corpse. Because of this double meaning, this could be describing a deceased old man (white and bristly beard) that is being taken away on a wheelbarrow. The couplet says “And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence Save breed to brave him, when he takes thee hence”. Nothing can stop a person from being taken by death. When they are gone, they are gone forever. The abrupt nature of this poem (the corpse, the scythe) might be an attempt of Shakespeare’s to shock the young man with the hope that he will be swayed to have a child.
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