By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Sonnet 16 by William Shakespeare continues the argument established in the previous sonnet, about art – and specifically, Shakespeare’s own poems – immortalising the Fair Youth’s beauty. Below is a brief summary and analysis of Sonnet 16.
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?
And fortify your self in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?
Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
And many maiden gardens, yet unset,
With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers,
Much liker than your painted counterfeit: