Sonnet 65 by William Shakespeare

The only thing constant in this world is change.

William Shakespeares prominence in the field of literature and humanities is so profound that his
name already became a household term. He has published 37 plays and 154 sonnets, all of which are of great
literary value. One of these masterpieces is Sonnet 65. Critics have read this sonnet in various ways, some
saying it is dedicated to the Fair Youth, while others offering additional angles with which we can view the
poem. My interpretation of the sonnet, however, is quite different from the way most people understand it. I
view the sonnet as the personas statement of his distress about growing old.
It is our instinct as human beings to survive as long as possible. Shakespeare, no matter how great
and famous he is as a writer, is still a human being. He gets hungry and thirsty like we do. He gets tired like
we do. He grows old like we do. That is why it is not a big surprise if he views growing old as a predicament.
In Sonnet 65, a number of textual evidences tell us about his problem.
Firstly, beauty seems to be a big issue for him. The persona provided pleasant imageries which he
used to compare beauty. He compared it to a flower, to summers honey breath, and referred to it as
Times best jewel. The analogies he laid out are all epitomes of beauty indeed. These images tell us how
much he treasures beauty.
What does that beauty mean? Beauty could mean the personas outward appearance. Beauty could
also mean vigor of the mind, or maybe physical strength. These possible meanings of beauty boil down to a
single word: youth. It is in our youth when our outward appearance is at its optimum smooth skin, healthy
hair, bright eyes. Additionally, our mental and physical capacities are best when we are still young. But, upon
reaching the age of 60 or so, wrinkles begin to surface, memory becomes rusty, and bones turn brittle. The
persona might be afraid that upon growing old, youth, and all the things that come with it, will be gone.
Furthermore, the description of time in the sonnet is negative and bleak. The persona described time
as wreckful, associated it with decays, and referred to it as a spoil of beauty. He also used literary
devices such as personification and apostrophe to further render time as something unpleasant. Time is
personified in the text as someone who destroys. The persona is also talking to time in a bargaining tone as
though it is a person. The facility of these techniques emphasized his disdain for time.
Time is used in the sonnet figuratively, and we could gather several and interconnected meanings
from it. Time could mean growing old. Time could also pertain to mortality or death. Since the persona is
fond of being young, we could say that it is growing old that he is against. Growing old can spoil his beauty
and lead to death in the long run. The fear of death is universal, and it would not be much of a surprise to
think that someone as celebrated as Shakespeare would be afraid of dying.
In the latter part of the sonnet, we can see how the persona tries to preserve his beauty and escape
from time. In the 3rd quatrain, it sounded like he is pleading for time to exempt him from the spoil of
beauty. He is also trying to find someone or something that could prevent time from taking away his youth
from him. The persona is still confident that there is a way to cheat mortality, and so he continues to beg.
All his pleadings, however, suddenly seem to vanish in the last two lines, when he began to realize
the inevitability of growing old and of dying. He came to accept that no one can truly evade death, not even
him. But, he found a way to immortalize his beauty, and that is through black ink writing. The persona
realized that even though time can decompose material things, it cannot do the same to abstract objects such
as ideas and opinions. And so, he used the power of the pen to render his love for beauty eternal. He has no
assurance whether or not writing will achieve his aim of preserving his beauty, but he is hopeful that it will.
Today, we can see how Shakespeare succeeded in rendering his beauty immortal through his works.
We should not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege. It is perfectly logical for us to be
afraid of death because our genes are programmed to aim for survival. But, instead of viewing growing old as
a problem, why not be thankful for it? Better yet, we should focus on leaving something remarkable behind
that will make the future generation remember us. Just like what Shakespeare did, we should use what we
have to leave a legacy to the world. After all, people are remembered not on how they looked like when they
were alive but on what they contributed for the betterment of life.
Change, like death, should not also be viewed negatively. It is natures law that dictates change as a
powerful and constant force. Change and death are things that we do not have to deal with. They are things
we have to live with.