Poetry · Chapter
Sonnet XLIX explained
The speaker anticipates a future time when his beloved may find fault with him and withdraw affection.
What happens
The speaker anticipates a future time when his beloved may find fault with him and withdraw affection. He prepares for this rejection by acknowledging his own unworthiness and conceding that the beloved has every right to leave, as the speaker can offer no just reason for being loved.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
The speaker contemplates the potential loss of love and the power imbalance in affection.
Truth and Deception
The speaker honestly assesses his own defects and the beloved's right to reject him, confronting the truth of unrequited love.
Characters to notice
- William Shakespeare
The speaker who reflects on his own defects and anticipates rejection.
- Youth
The beloved friend whose love may turn to judgment and estrangement.
Key passages
“Against that time, if ever that time come, When I shall see thee frown on my defects, When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum, Call’d to that audit by advised respects;”
In preparation for the day when you might look disapprovingly at my flaws, when your love has reached its final reckoning, summoned to that accounting by careful consideration,
The speaker imagines a future audit of his worthiness by the beloved.
“Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye, When love, converted from the thing it was, Shall reasons find of settled gravity—”
In anticipation of the time when you will pass by coldly and barely acknowledge me with your bright eye, when love, changed from what it once was, will find serious reasons for its distance—
The speaker foresees a transformation of love into formal estrangement.
“To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws, Since why to love I can allege no cause.”
You have the full authority of reason to abandon me, since I can give no justification for why you should love me.
The speaker concedes that the beloved's rejection is legally and morally justified.