Sonnet CVII explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Time and Mortality

  The poet confronts mortality and the prophetic fears of the world, yet asserts that his love and verse transcend time and death.

• Art and Immortality

  The poem promises immortality through verse, declaring that the beloved will find a monument in the rhyme, outlasting tyrants' crests and brass tombs.

Characters to notice

• Death

  Death is personified as a figure that now subscribes to the poet, acknowledging the poet's immortality through verse.

• Time

  Time is implicitly referenced through the themes of mortality and the enduring monument of the poem.

Key passages

• “Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul Of the wide world dreaming on things to come, Can yet the lease of my true love control”

  Neither my personal anxieties nor the world's predictions about the future can limit the duration of my true love.

  The poet asserts the invincibility of his love against all fears and prophecies.

• “The mortal moon hath her eclipse endured And the sad augurs mock their own presage”

  The mortal moon has survived its eclipse, and the gloomy prophets now ridicule their own predictions.

  Likely a reference to Queen Elizabeth I surviving a crisis or death, making false prophets of those who foretold doom.

• “Now with the drops of this most balmy time My love looks fresh, and Death to me subscribes”

  In this gentle and healing era, my love appears renewed, and Death itself acknowledges my superiority.

  The poet's love is revitalized by peaceful times, and Death concedes to the poet's power.

• “And thou in this shalt find thy monument, When tyrants' crests and tombs of brass are spent”

  You will find your lasting memorial in this poem, even after the crests and brass tombs of tyrants have decayed.

  The poem itself becomes an eternal monument for the beloved, outlasting physical symbols of power.