# XII explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by William Shakespeare.

## What happens

The speaker contrasts youth and age, expressing adoration for youth and defiance of age, while lamenting the delay of a young lover.

## Themes in this chapter

### Time and Mortality

The poem contrasts the vigor of youth with the decay of age, highlighting the relentless passage of time.

### Beauty and Transience

Youth is depicted as beautiful and fleeting, while age represents the loss of that beauty.

## Character check-ins

### Youth

Personified as full of pleasance, summer morn, sport, nimble, hot and bold, wild, and adored by the speaker.

### Age

Personified as crabbed, full of care, winter weather, bare, short of breath, lame, weak and cold, tame, and abhorred by the speaker.

### Love

Referred to as 'my love' who is young, and the speaker longs for their arrival.

## Key lines

> Crabbed age and youth cannot live together: Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare.

Old age and youth are incompatible: youth is joyful, age is worried; youth is like a summer morning, age like winter; youth is splendid like summer, age is barren like winter.

_The speaker establishes the fundamental opposition between youth and age._

> Youth is full of sport, age’s breath is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame.

Youth is playful and energetic, age is breathless and slow; youth is agile, age is crippled; youth is passionate and daring, age is feeble and chilly; youth is untamed, age is subdued.

_The speaker enumerates the contrasting qualities of youth and age._

> Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee; O, my love, my love is young! Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee, For methinks thou stay’st too long.

I hate old age and love youth; my beloved is young! I reject old age: hurry, sweet shepherd, because you seem to be taking too long.

_The speaker directly addresses age and youth, expressing strong emotions and impatience for the young lover's arrival._

## Links

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