Shakespeare Sonnet 1, “From fairest creatures we desire increase” introduces four main themes – Time, Immortality, Procreation and selfishness. It is the first sonnet among the 17 written by Shakespeare which focuses on a young man. Sonnet 1 to17 is also referred to as “Procreation Sonnets” where the poet urges a young man to have a child so that his beauty is passed to the next generation.
Shakespeare Sonnet 1 Summary & Explanation
The poet calls upon his friend to get married and to produce children in order to be able to perpetuate his name and his memory. The poet’s love and the urge to his friend is the sentiment of this sonnet.
In this Shakespeare sonnet 1 summary, each quatrain is explained in detail with the meaning of important words and phrases given below.
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
1st Quatrain
In the first quatrain, the poet says that beautiful people should multiply (to have children) so that their beauty like that of a rose should never come to an end. When a person dies after having grown older, his young son should keep his memory alive.
Word meanings
Beauty’s rose: Beauty is here spoken of in terms of a rose which is a symbol of beauty.
The riper: The older
By time: In course of time.
Decease: Die
His tender heir: His child
Might bear his memory: Might keep his memory alive.
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes
Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
2nd Quatrain
In the second quatrain, the poet tells his friend that he is too much obsessed with his own beauty. That he selfishly wants to keep all his beauty with himself. By doing so, he is depriving the world of that beauty, even when there is plenty. The poet continues to tell that he is his own enemy and too cruel to himself for not having a child, which would carry his memory.
Word meanings
contracted to thine own bright eyes: committed to the worship of your own beauty.
Self-substantial: sufficient in itself; not requiring anything additional or supplementary.
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggarding:
3rd Quatrain
In the third quatrain, the poet tells his friend that he is presently one of the most beautiful people in the world. He is like someone who announces the coming of the spring. But, unfortunately, he is burying his beauty within himself and wasting it by being selfish.
Word Meaning
Herald: Harbinger, fore-runner, messenger.
Gaudy: Showy, sumptuous.
Tender: Youthful.
Churl: Miser.
Niggarding: Behaving in a miserly manner.
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.
Ending Couplet
In the ending couplet, the poet tells his friend to have pity on the world otherwise he will appear like a greedy person who kept his beauty to himself and died without sharing it.
Shakespeare Sonnet 1 Critical Appreciation
In this opening sonnet of the sequence, Shakespeare urges his friend (most probably the Earl of Southampton) to get married in order to be able to have children of his own. The argument given by the poet to his friend is very convincing. We agree that a man should not live for himself alone but should have a family. However, among human beings, there are some who do not marry or have children. As Shakespeare thought his friend to be one of the most beautiful human beings, he wanted that the friend’s beauty should not get lost altogether.
In this sonnet, Shakespeare has argued in a manner that it appeals to our intelligence or our reason. It is not the best sonnet by Shakespeare. But we should not forget that the beauty of his friend is as much a theme of this sonnet as the argument that the friend should get married and produce children.