"Sonnet 12" was first published along with the rest of Shakespeare's sonnets in 1609, though scholars believe he wrote the poem in the 1590s. Like many of Shakespeare's sonnets, the poem laments the frailty and impermanence of beauty and personifies "Time," which takes that beauty away, as its antagonist. The poem is part of Shakespeare's "Fair Youth" sequence, a group of poems addressed to a handsome young man with whom the speaker has an intimate relationship. Within this sequence, "Sonnet 12" belongs more specifically to a subset of poems known as the "procreation sonnets," which encourage the handsome youth to marry and have children. Here, the speaker urges the Fair Youth to reproduce specifically as a way of leaving some of his beauty behind and, therefore, defying Time.
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The Full Text of “Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time”
1When I do count the clock that tells the time,
2And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
3When I behold the violet past prime,
4And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;
5When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
6Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
7And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves
8Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
9Then of thy beauty do I question make,
10That thou among the wastes of time must go,
11Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
12And die as fast as they see others grow;
13 And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence
14 Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
The Full Text of “Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time”
1When I do count the clock that tells the time,
2And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
3When I behold the violet past prime,
4And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;
5When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
6Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
7And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves
8Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
9Then of thy beauty do I question make,
10That thou among the wastes of time must go,
11Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
12And die as fast as they see others grow;
13 And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence
14 Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
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“Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Summary
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“Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Themes
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Time, Mortality, and the Cycle of Life
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time”
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Lines 1-2
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; -
Lines 3-4
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white; -
Lines 5-8
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, -
Lines 9-12
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow; -
Lines 13-14
And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
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“Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Symbols
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Nature
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“Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Personification
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Caesura
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Anaphora
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Juxtaposition
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“Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Brave
- Prime
- Sable
- O'er
- Erst
- Bier
- Thy/thou/thee
- Sweets
- Scythe
- Hence
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Speaker
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“Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time”
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More “Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Watch Shakespearean actor Sir Patrick Stewart read "Sonnet 12" aloud.
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The Fair Youth — Learn more about the mysterious young man to whom many of Shakespeare's poems are add
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The Poem Out Loud—Again! — For another interpretation, listen to actor Scottish actor David Tennant read "Sonnet 12" aloud.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Shakespeare
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