The poem is addressed to the Fair Youth, who is throughout the text complimented
on his beauty. He seems not to have aged the whole time the speaker has known
him. Over the last three years, he has remained just as fresh and green as when
they first met. But the speaker acknowledges towards the end, he knows this can’t
be the case. All people age and time moves so slowly that he just can’t see it.
To me, fair friend, you never can be old
Alliteration: used to give an airy/
breathless sound Strong word He tells this young man that despite the time that might’ve
hyperbole To me, fair friend, you never can be old, passed since they met that he looks no older.
Alliteration
For as you were when first your eye I eyed, He cannot, in the speaker’s eyes, ever age.
personified
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold Since the first time they met, three “cold” winters have
Anaphora
passed and three prideful summers.
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,
changed
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Flowering personified Assonance
plants Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,
Youthful refers to youth as if a fruit has not quite ripened.
Since first I saw you fresh which yet are green.
personified A sense of NAÏVETÉ
shift Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand, SIMILIE:
Doesn’t seem to be moving In the same way as it is difficult to observe the
metaphor Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived; movement of a clock hand, so too does the poet
Youthful Assonance
barely notice the aging of the youthful subject.
colour So your sweet hue which methinks still doth stand, This simile speaks to the power time has and
Love is blind how “no pace” can be perceived.
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
He knows that the young man’s beauty is also
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred: changing. His “sweet hue” which appears to
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead. hyperbole stand still is moving. It “Hath motion” and the
speaker’s eye is deceived.
He thinks about the possibility that his eyes have been
deceived. He addresses “thou age unbred,” or the future
generations. The speaker tells them that no matter what they
see around them, the most beautiful person to have lived is now
dead.
Mood Thoughtful;
Symbolism Pensive
The changing of the seasons and months such as
the word winter, summer, autumn, April, and Tone Fondness;
June. It symbolizes how beauty is always moving Reflective
forward like the time on a clock, or we can say
that beauty will slowly change through times. The
word ‘three winters and summers’ symbolizes Structure
three years.
Shakespearean Sonnet- 3 Quatrains+ Rhyme
couplet.
Theme The poet uses iambic pentameter because each
the inevitability of the passing of time line has 5 feet, and the stressing pattern is all
of beauty friend, or in another word iambs.
real beauty lasts forever.
Regular Rhyme- not free (tight structure)
on his beauty. He seems not to have aged the whole time the speaker has known
him. Over the last three years, he has remained just as fresh and green as when
they first met. But the speaker acknowledges towards the end, he knows this can’t
be the case. All people age and time moves so slowly that he just can’t see it.
To me, fair friend, you never can be old
Alliteration: used to give an airy/
breathless sound Strong word He tells this young man that despite the time that might’ve
hyperbole To me, fair friend, you never can be old, passed since they met that he looks no older.
Alliteration
For as you were when first your eye I eyed, He cannot, in the speaker’s eyes, ever age.
personified
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold Since the first time they met, three “cold” winters have
Anaphora
passed and three prideful summers.
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,
changed
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Flowering personified Assonance
plants Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,
Youthful refers to youth as if a fruit has not quite ripened.
Since first I saw you fresh which yet are green.
personified A sense of NAÏVETÉ
shift Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand, SIMILIE:
Doesn’t seem to be moving In the same way as it is difficult to observe the
metaphor Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived; movement of a clock hand, so too does the poet
Youthful Assonance
barely notice the aging of the youthful subject.
colour So your sweet hue which methinks still doth stand, This simile speaks to the power time has and
Love is blind how “no pace” can be perceived.
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
He knows that the young man’s beauty is also
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred: changing. His “sweet hue” which appears to
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead. hyperbole stand still is moving. It “Hath motion” and the
speaker’s eye is deceived.
He thinks about the possibility that his eyes have been
deceived. He addresses “thou age unbred,” or the future
generations. The speaker tells them that no matter what they
see around them, the most beautiful person to have lived is now
dead.
Mood Thoughtful;
Symbolism Pensive
The changing of the seasons and months such as
the word winter, summer, autumn, April, and Tone Fondness;
June. It symbolizes how beauty is always moving Reflective
forward like the time on a clock, or we can say
that beauty will slowly change through times. The
word ‘three winters and summers’ symbolizes Structure
three years.
Shakespearean Sonnet- 3 Quatrains+ Rhyme
couplet.
Theme The poet uses iambic pentameter because each
the inevitability of the passing of time line has 5 feet, and the stressing pattern is all
of beauty friend, or in another word iambs.
real beauty lasts forever.
Regular Rhyme- not free (tight structure)
