Sonnet 7
Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
aging
time
beauty
procreation
Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye
Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,
Serving with looks his sacred majesty;
And having climb'd the steep-up heavenly hill,
Resembling strong youth in his middle age,
yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,
Attending on his golden pilgrimage;
But when from highmost pitch, with weary car,
Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day,
The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are
From his low tract and look another way:
So thou, thyself out-going in thy noon,
Unlook'd on diest, unless thou get a son.
What It Means
The sun's journey from morning to evening is the central image. At dawn, everyone looks up and admires it. At noon, it commands attention. But as it declines toward the west, observers turn away. The analogy is clear: the young man is the sun. He's admired now, in his youth. But when he ages, the world will stop looking. The sonnet ends with its most pointed procreation argument: the only way to have a 'son' to look after you in old age is to make one.
Context
Seventh in the Procreation sequence. The sun/son wordplay in the final couplet — 'get a son' — is a deliberate pun typical of Shakespeare's layered meaning.
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