Unthrifty Loveliness, Why Dost Thou Spend
by
William Shakespeare
(Poem,
Summary & Analysis)
In this sonnet (number 4), Shakespeare urges the
young man, not to throw away, without regard, the beauty. He says, that beauty
is Nature's gift, which is given to the young man on condition that it should
be used to profit the world, by handing it on to future generations.
Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Unthrifty
loveliness, why dost thou spend
Upon
thy self 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 thy self alone,
Thou
of thy self 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 tombed with thee,
Which,
used, lives th' executor to be.
This
sonnet is as concerned with the fair youth passing on his attributes to his
children as the preceding three sonnets. The poet uses money lending and
inheritance as a metaphor.
Shakespeare
accuses the fair youth of being frivolous. The fair youth’s beauty is used as
currency in this poem and the speaker suggests that beauty should be passed onto
his offspring as a kind of inheritance. The poet says, that the fair youth is a
selfish character. Nature has lent him this beauty, which he should pass on –
not hoard! His beauty will die with him. The sonnet is written in iambic
pentameter.
Shakespeare
asks the young man, why does he not pass on his beauty to the world. Nature has
lent him good looks, but he is a miser and abuse the amazing gift of beauty he
has been given.
The poet
says, that a money lender cannot make money, if he does not pass it on. If he
does business with himself, he will never reap the benefits of his riches.
Shakespeare
says, this fair youth is deceiving himself. When nature takes his life, what
will he leave behind? His beauty will go with him to his grave, not having been
passed on to another.
The
poet asks the fair youth to passed on his beauty. The metaphor of beauty as
currency is employed. The poet believes that the fair youth is quite selfish
and greedy and is perhaps motivated by material gains. He may die childless and
have no way of continuing on his line. Through his children, he would live on,
and so his beauty.
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