# Sonnet LXIII explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by William Shakespeare.

## What happens

The poet reflects on the inevitable decay that time will inflict upon his beloved, imagining the loss of youth and beauty. He fortifies himself against this future by asserting that his verse will preserve the beloved's beauty eternally, even after his life has ended.

## Themes in this chapter

### Time and Mortality

The poem directly addresses Time's destructive power over youth and beauty, and the poet's struggle against aging and death.

### Art and Immortality

The poet claims that his verse (these black lines) will preserve the beloved's beauty forever, transcending mortal decay.

## Character check-ins

### Time

Personified as an injurious force that crushes and wears down the beloved.

### Youth

Referenced as the beloved's youthful morn that travels to age's steepy night.

### Love

The poet's love for the beloved is the subject of preservation against time.

## Key lines

> Against my love shall be, as I am now, With Time’s injurious hand crush’d and o’erworn;

My beloved will one day be like I am now—worn down and damaged by Time's cruel hand.

_The poet imagines his beloved's future aging and decay._

> His beauty shall in these black lines be seen, And they shall live, and he in them still green.

His beauty will be visible in these dark lines of poetry, and while the verses endure, he will remain forever youthful within them.

_The poet asserts that his writing will grant the beloved eternal beauty._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/lxiii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters