Sonnet 4
Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
beauty
economy
legacy
mortality
Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy?
Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend,
And being frank she lends to those are free.
Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse
The bounteous largess given thee to give?
Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live?
For having traffic with thyself alone,
Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive.
Then how, when nature calls thee to be gone,
What acceptable audit canst thou leave?
Thy unused beauty must be tomb'd with thee,
Which, used, lives th' executor to be.
What It Means
Shakespeare calls the young man 'unthrifty' — spending his beauty on himself without return. The financial metaphor runs throughout: beauty is a legacy held in trust, and spending it only on yourself is a kind of fraud. The young man is a usurer of beauty — he lends his gifts to no one and takes no interest on them. The final couplet is stark: when you die, your beauty goes with you unless you leave it to an heir.
Context
Part of the Procreation sequence (1–17). Shakespeare uses economic language throughout — 'unthrifty,' 'legacy,' 'bequest' — framing beauty as capital that must be invested, not hoarded.
Buy the Arden edition of the Sonnets on Amazon →
As an Amazon Associate, ShakespeareGo earns from qualifying purchases.