Those Hours, That with Gentle Work Did Frame (Sonnet 5) by William Shakespeare (Poem, Summary & Analysis)

 

Those Hours, That with Gentle Work Did Frame (Sonnet 5)

by William Shakespeare

(Poem, Summary & Analysis)

 

In this sonnet Shakespeare says, that the coming years will play havoc with the young man's beauty. He says, Human life is like the seasons, spring, summer, autumn's maturity and enjoyment, followed by cruel winter. Nothing is left of summer's beauty except for that which the careful housewife preserves, the essence of roses and other flowers distilled for their perfume. Once distilled, the substance of beauty is always preserved. Therefore, the youth should consider how his beauty might be best distilled and preserved.

 

Those Hours, That with Gentle Work Did Frame

Those hours, that with gentle work did frame

The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,

Will play the tyrants to the very same

And that unfair which fairly doth excel;

 

For never-resting time leads summer on

To hideous winter, and confounds him there;

Sap checked with frost, and lusty leaves quite gone,

Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness everywhere:

 

Then were not summer's distillation left,

A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,

Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,

Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was:

 

But flowers distilled, though they with winter meet,

Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

 

  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Leather-bound Classics) by William Shakespeare (Author), Michael A. Cramer (Introduction)

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In sonnet 5, Shakespeare warns the youth, that the time that has given him beauty, will eventually undo his handsome and lovely characteristics. The young man, whose qualities are very attractive—so much so that "every eye doth dwell" upon his features—has the obligation to send on those qualities to a new generation.

According to Shakespeare, time has worked in perfecting the young man’s countenance; but the same time will transform his beautiful youth into ugly, old age. The poet then persuades the lad to marry and procreate, so that there will be a new generation to inherit the young man’s beauty, because children often do resemble their parents.

The speaker then names time as "never-resting" and compares summer to winter. He calls winter as "hideous", because the sap in the trees no longer flow smoothly, as it is "check’d with frost." The speaker metaphorically compares the sap in winter trees to human blood. Not only does the sap cease flowing in the trees, but also the "lusty leaves [are] quite gone". The "lusty leaves" represent the physical beauty of the young man, to which so many folks have been attracted. The youth is advised to make good use of the summer before winter leaves his blood lethargic, modifying his pleasing qualities and rendering them barren, withered, and ugly.

In the third quatrain, Shakespeare tells the process of converting dandelion flowers into wine. He compares the result of summer to perfume or wine, and attempts to demonstrate to the young man that re-creating his own likeness would be a grand gift to the world as well as to himself.

  The Complete Works Of Shakespeare (Paperback) by Shakespeare (Author, Translator)

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The speaker persuades the young man to offer the gift of his offspring to the world. He again refers the perfume/alcohol created in summer. The "flowers" were distilled to produce the "liquid prisoner." The speaker retorts that though the flowers gave up the beauty, their "substance" or essence, that is, the liquid they yielded, "still lives sweet." The speaker hopes that his persuasion will make the youth preserve his own beauty by marrying and having beautiful children.