Shakespeare Sonnet Twelve

This sonnet in particular represents the seasons and their aging. It is known as a seasonal sonnet. The first quatrain represents the ticking of a clock. It is telling of how time passes quickly, and day is to life as night is to death.

The second quatrain says that as time passes, leaves will fall off of trees, flowers will get old and wilted, and when these things happen they aren't as beautiful as they once were. So, what the speaker stresses is that while they are young and still have their beauty, they should settle down with children.

The third quatrain and the last couplet specifically focus on time again. Shakespeare is saying that despite time rapidly slipping away, the boy should sometime soon settle down and extend his beauty by having children. He is saying that when time finds him, and wants to take him away, that he'll at least have an offspring to carry on the beauty that he once had possessed himself.