Sonnet 15
When I consider every thing that grows
time
poetry
immortality
growth
When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and cheque'd even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.
What It Means
Shakespeare steps back from the procreation argument and introduces a new one: poetry. He observes that everything grows to its peak and then declines. The young man is at his peak now. In war with time, Shakespeare picks up a new weapon — his verse. 'And all in war with Time for love of you, / As he takes from you, I engraft you new.' The final couplet is a hinge moment in the sequence: immortality through verse is introduced for the first time.
Context
Fifteenth sonnet, late in the Procreation sequence. Here the argument begins to shift from 'have children' to 'my poetry will preserve you' — a transition that defines much of the rest of the Fair Youth sequence.
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