Sonnet 126: O Thou, My Lovely Boy, Who In Thy Pow’r
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy pow’r
Dost hold time’s fickly glass, his sickle hour,
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show’st
Thy lovers withering, as they sweet self grow’st –
If nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
As thou goest onwards still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose: that her skill
May time disgrace, and wretched minute kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure;
She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure.
Her audit, though delayed, answered muxt be,
And her quietus is to render thee.
Sonnet Line 1:
“O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy pow’r”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Thou: You.
- Lovely boy: The beloved, often interpreted as the Fair Youth.
- Pow’r: Power.
Explanation:
The speaker addresses the beloved, referred to as the “lovely boy,” acknowledging the youth’s power or influence. This line introduces the central theme of the sonnet, which is the beloved’s unique relationship with Time and Nature. The speaker’s tone is admiring, setting the stage for a meditation on the beloved’s beauty and its defiance of Time.
Sonnet Line 2:
“Dost hold time’s fickly glass, his sickle hour,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Dost hold: Do hold or possess.
- Fickly glass: Hourglass, symbolizing the passage of time.
- Sickle hour: The destructive power of Time, often symbolized by a sickle.
Explanation:
The speaker suggests that the beloved has control over Time’s instruments—the hourglass and the sickle—which symbolize the passage and destructive power of Time. This line emphasizes the beloved’s unique ability to resist or delay the effects of Time, highlighting their exceptional beauty and vitality. The speaker’s tone is reverent, underscoring the beloved’s extraordinary nature.
Sonnet Line 3:
“Who hast by waning grown, and therein show’st”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Hast: Have.
- Waning: Declining or diminishing.
- Grown: Increased or matured.
Explanation:
The speaker observes that the beloved has paradoxically grown stronger or more beautiful even as Time causes others to decline. This line suggests that the beloved defies the natural order, becoming more radiant even as Time takes its toll on others. The speaker’s tone is awestruck, emphasizing the beloved’s unique defiance of Time.
Sonnet Line 4:
“Thy lovers withering, as they sweet self grow’st –”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Lovers: Admirers or those who love the beloved.
- Withering: Decaying or fading.
- Sweet self: The beloved’s own beauty or essence.
Explanation:
The speaker notes that while the beloved’s admirers wither and fade with Time, the beloved themselves continue to grow in beauty and vitality. This line reinforces the idea of the beloved’s exceptional nature, contrasting their enduring beauty with the decay of others. The speaker’s tone is admiring, highlighting the beloved’s superiority.
Sonnet Line 5:
“If nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Sovereign mistress: Supreme ruler.
- Wrack: Destruction or ruin.
Explanation:
The speaker introduces Nature as the supreme ruler over destruction and decay. This line suggests that Nature has the power to control or mitigate the effects of Time, setting the stage for the idea that Nature has a special purpose for the beloved. The speaker’s tone is reverent, acknowledging Nature’s authority.
Sonnet Line 6:
“As thou goest onwards still will pluck thee back,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Goest onwards: Progress or move forward.
- Pluck thee back: Pull you back or preserve you.
Explanation:
The speaker suggests that as the beloved moves forward in life, Nature intervenes to preserve their beauty and vitality. This line emphasizes the idea that Nature has a special interest in the beloved, protecting them from the ravages of Time. The speaker’s tone is admiring, underscoring the beloved’s unique relationship with Nature.
Sonnet Line 7:
“She keeps thee to this purpose: that her skill”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Keeps thee: Preserves or protects you.
- Purpose: Intention or goal.
- Skill: Power or ability.
Explanation:
The speaker explains that Nature preserves the beloved to demonstrate her power and ability. This line suggests that the beloved serves as a testament to Nature’s mastery, defying Time and decay. The speaker’s tone is reverent, emphasizing the beloved’s role as a symbol of Nature’s skill.
Sonnet Line 8:
“May time disgrace, and wretched minute kill.”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Disgrace: Shame or defeat.
- Wretched minute: The destructive moments of Time.
Explanation:
The speaker declares that Nature’s purpose in preserving the beloved is to shame Time and nullify its destructive power. This line reinforces the idea that the beloved’s beauty is a weapon against Time, demonstrating Nature’s superiority. The speaker’s tone is triumphant, celebrating the beloved’s defiance of Time.
Sonnet Line 9:
“Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure;”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Fear her: Be cautious of Nature.
- Minion: Favorite or darling.
- Pleasure: Will or desire.
Explanation:
The speaker warns the beloved to be cautious of Nature, even though they are her favorite. This line introduces a note of caution, suggesting that Nature’s favor is not without limits or conditions. The speaker’s tone is protective, urging the beloved to remain aware of their vulnerability.
Sonnet Line 10:
“She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure.”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Detain: Delay or hold back.
- Still keep: Forever preserve.
- Treasure: The beloved, as a precious possession.
Explanation:
The speaker acknowledges that while Nature can delay the effects of Time, she cannot preserve the beloved forever. This line introduces a note of inevitability, suggesting that even the beloved’s beauty is subject to eventual decay. The speaker’s tone is resigned, recognizing the limits of Nature’s power.
Sonnet Line 11:
“Her audit, though delayed, answered muxt be,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Audit: Reckoning or accounting.
- Delayed: Postponed.
- Answered muxt be: Must eventually be settled.
Explanation:
The speaker suggests that Nature’s reckoning, though delayed, must eventually be settled. This line emphasizes the idea that even the beloved’s beauty is subject to the natural order, and Time will ultimately have its due. The speaker’s tone is somber, acknowledging the inevitability of decay.
Sonnet Line 12:
“And her quietus is to render thee.”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Quietus: Settlement or final discharge.
- Render thee: Surrender or give you up.
Explanation:
The speaker concludes that Nature’s final act will be to surrender the beloved to Time. This line underscores the inevitability of the beloved’s eventual decline, despite their current defiance of Time. The speaker’s tone is resigned, accepting the natural order of life and death.
In-Depth Analysis of Sonnet 126
Summary
Sonnet 126 is unique among Shakespeare’s sonnets as it breaks from the traditional 14-line structure, consisting of only 12 lines. The sonnet serves as a concluding address to the Fair Youth, emphasizing the inevitable passage of time and nature’s temporary favor in preserving his beauty.
The speaker addresses the Fair Youth as “my lovely boy” and acknowledges that he holds power over time itself. The youth’s beauty defies aging, growing even as time should naturally cause decay. However, this paradox is deceptive—though the youth appears to escape time’s effects, he is still subject to nature’s ultimate control.
Nature, described as a “sovereign mistress,” temporarily protects the youth, preventing him from succumbing to the same decay that affects others. Yet, this is only a delay, not a permanent safeguard. The youth is merely being “plucked back” momentarily; ultimately, nature will demand payment for the borrowed time.
In the final lines, the speaker warns the youth to fear nature, for although she may extend her favor for a time, she cannot keep him forever. Her “audit” (a financial metaphor for accounting) must eventually be answered, and the “quietus” (a term for settling an account or even death) will be to render the youth back to time. The absence of the final rhyming couplet, which would typically conclude a Shakespearean sonnet, reinforces the poem’s message—there is no escaping time’s final reckoning.
Critical Analysis
Sonnet 126 serves as an epilogue to the sequence of sonnets addressed to the Fair Youth. Unlike previous sonnets that flatter or plead, this one delivers a stark reality: despite temporary resistance, time will ultimately claim the youth. The poem plays with the tension between beauty’s preservation and inevitable decay, echoing the themes of earlier sonnets while offering a final, resigned acknowledgment of mortality.
One of the most striking aspects of this sonnet is its deviation from the conventional 14-line structure. The missing final couplet suggests an unfinished thought, perhaps symbolizing the unavoidable yet unspoken fate of the youth. By breaking the form, Shakespeare mirrors the disruption that death brings to life’s natural progression.
The imagery of time’s “fickly glass” and “sickle hour” reinforces the personification of time as a reaper, an allusion to the Grim Reaper’s scythe. The youth appears to defy this fate, but the speaker makes it clear that such defiance is temporary. The use of financial metaphors (“audit,” “quietus,” “render”) suggests that nature has merely loaned the youth his beauty, and payment will eventually be required. This aligns with Renaissance beliefs about life and death as a kind of divine bookkeeping, where all debts must be settled in the end.
While earlier sonnets often encouraged the youth to combat time by having children (procreation sonnets) or through poetic immortality, Sonnet 126 accepts that nothing, not even poetry or love, can permanently defy time. This finality makes it one of the most somber yet powerful sonnets in the sequence.
Theme Analysis
- The Inevitability of Time’s Power
The sonnet explores the unavoidable triumph of time, reinforcing the idea that beauty, no matter how resilient, must eventually fade. - Nature’s Temporary Favor
Nature is depicted as having the ability to delay time’s effects, but not to stop them completely. This reflects the Renaissance idea that beauty and youth are gifts that must eventually be returned. - Mortality and the Illusion of Eternal Youth
The youth may appear to have defied time, but his growth (“waning grown”) hints at an underlying process of decay. The illusion of immortality is shattered as the speaker reminds him that nature’s gift is not permanent. - The Financial Metaphor of Life and Death
Life is framed as a loan, and eventually, the debt must be repaid. The idea of an “audit” and “quietus” suggests that no one, not even the beautiful youth, can escape nature’s final accounting. - Disruption of Structure as a Metaphor for Death
The missing final couplet reflects the unfinished nature of life and reinforces the idea that death ultimately cuts things short.
Literary Devices
- Personification
- “Time’s fickly glass, his sickle hour” → Time is given human characteristics, wielding both a glass (hourglass) and a sickle, emphasizing its destructive power.
- “Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack” → Nature is personified as a ruler who has control over destruction but also the ability to delay it.
- Paradox
- “Who hast by waning grown” → The youth grows in beauty even as time should be diminishing him, suggesting a temporary defiance of natural decay.
- Financial Metaphor
- “Her audit, though delayed, answered must be” → Life is depicted as a debt that must be repaid, reinforcing the inevitability of death.
- “Her quietus is to render thee” → “Quietus” suggests both the settling of accounts and the finality of death.
- Symbolism
- The “sickle” represents death (the Grim Reaper), reinforcing the theme of mortality.
- The “glass” (hourglass) symbolizes the passage of time and the inevitability of its effects.
- Structural Deviation
- The sonnet consists of only 12 lines instead of the standard 14, mirroring the theme of life’s unfinished nature and the abruptness of death.
Conclusion
Sonnet 126 serves as Shakespeare’s final word on the Fair Youth’s beauty and mortality, offering a resigned acceptance of time’s ultimate power. The youth may have seemed to escape aging, but the speaker acknowledges that nature’s favor is only temporary. The use of financial metaphors suggests that life is a loan that must be repaid, and the missing final couplet reinforces the idea of an unfinished fate—death cuts short even the most beautiful lives. By breaking the traditional sonnet structure, Shakespeare underscores the inevitable disruption that time and mortality bring. This makes Sonnet 126 one of the most haunting and powerful entries in the sequence, marking the end of the Fair Youth sonnets with a profound meditation on the limits of human beauty and time’s inescapable grasp.
