The first Shakespearean sonnet undoubtedly seems to have been written knowing its place in the collection, aptly serving as a tone-setter and thoughtful, poignant hook to readers via its direct diction and through my interpretation, the call to action it creates. I found that the way this poem is written especially implores the reader to examine Shakespeare’s ideas in relation to their own life. Although poems often have this sort of effect inherently, I thought the contrasting usage of the words ‘we’ in the first line and ones like ‘thou’, ‘thy’, and ‘thine’ in the second quatrain very deliberately and effectively created a sense that the subject is acting in a way which opposes some norm or the way in which ‘we’ are supposed to behave. The first quatrain is straightforward and unassuming, merely Shakespeare’s perspective on the flow of life and the way things are, but the second makes direct and pointed claims about an individual. 

The aforementioned sense of opposition is bolstered by the juxtaposing lines in the second quatrain, which are simultaneously critical and complimentary. Shakespeare insinuates that the person to which he is referring has merit and purity, saying that they have ‘bright eyes’ (5) and that they are too cruel to their ‘sweet self’ (8). However, he also seems to claim that they are self-absorbed and misguided, saying that they are ‘contracted to thine own bright eyes’ (5), and that they are ‘making a famine where abundance lies’ (7). These layered, contrasting lines to me seem to be intended to spark curiosity and introspection in the person to which ‘thou’ refers or the reader. Despite reading as very deliberate and direct, these lines contain plenty of ambiguity, ambiguity which in my analysis is addressed in the final quatrain.

Shakespeare meanders through the first two quatrains of this sonnet, poking and prodding as a means to provoke curiosity, but in the final quatrain he attains some specificity and provides more concrete ideas to the reader. The first two lines assign significance and purity to ‘thou’, saying that “thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament and only herald to the gaudy spring” (9-10). These lines are especially striking as they begin the third quatrain and proceed those in the second which as previously mentioned had a much different tone, but the third line in this quatrain stood out to me especially: “within thine own bud buriest thy content” (11). I took this to mean that we have inherent value and the ability to live meaningfully simply by being and recognizing our place in the world and the flow of life. In tandem with the second quatrain, Shakespeare–from my perspective–implies the danger of self-absorption and encourages one to recognize their purity and significance. This idea is corroborated by the concluding couplet, which opens with the line: “pity the world, or else this glutton be” (13), which to me outlined a very real inferiority we all have to the ways of the world, and encouraged us to live as Shakespeare suggests for fear of a consequence.