Can you explain sonnet 9 by Shakespeare? I have no idea what it means. P.S.-this is not my homework.?

Question

Sonnet 9

IX.

Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye
That thou consumest thyself in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die.
The world will wail thee, like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children's eyes her husband's shape in mind.
Look, what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unused, the user so destroys it.
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murderous shame commits.

Answer 1

SONNET 9
Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye
That thou consumest thyself in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die.
The world will wail thee, like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children's eyes her husband's shape in mind.
Look, what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unused, the user so destroys it.
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murderous shame commits.

Answer 2

In the first two lines S. asks why he remains single/childless, whether or not it is from fear. Then he rebuts that fear by saying that though he wont make a single woman mourn as his widow, still the whole world will mourn his loss, and the loss of the children he might have, who would carry on his likeness into the future. Then, in lines 7 and 8 he makes the argument that what he is doing is crueler than marrying having kids and then dying, because his widow would have kids who look like him to remember him by, while the world is totally bereft of his company. He then says that he is doing the world a great disservice, by ending the possibility of his beauty carrying on into the next generation "but beauty's waste has such an end..." The following line says that he will destroy the future by his abstinence, and the last couplet says that he cant possibly love anyone, even himself, while holding out on having kids...

so basically, the whole thing is Shakespeare telling some guy to go get laid... but yeah

Answer 3

The speaker is telling the subject not to avoid marriage for the sake of saving a woman from being a widow. Regardless, the world will mourn the subject's death, so he should go ahead and marry and procreate. The offspring will keep the subject alive to the widow. Besides, when a person stores love in his heart without giving it away, it becomes wasted and destroyed. The couplet says that keeping love to yourself is shameful.

But no, the speaker isn't merely saying that the subject should "get laid."

Answer 4

He is advising a young man to marry. The theme of the poem is the waste of a life that does not include the creation of a family.

"The world will by thy widow and still weep that thou no form of thee has left behind..."

I must admit that the last six lines are very obscure. Was this poem dedicated to a specific person, perhaps a very handsome gentleman?

They seem to echo Shakespeare's lines in "Twelfth Night" when Rosalind advises the famous beauty Olivia (who has sworn to live single and die alone, in mourning for a beloved brother), "Madame, you are the cruellest she alive, to go to the grave and leave the world no copy" (ie, no daughter who might resemble her and in whose loveliness others might rejoice).

Answer 5

He’s talking about a man who loves himself more than others. A man who would rather die alone than leave behind a widow to cry for him. But the world itself will be the man’s widow, and will cry for him. A man who leaves behind no progeny, leaves behind nothing of himself that will have the chance to last through time.

Narcissism is a wasted life, because it leaves no love behind it (the love will die with the narcissist.) But a man who risks to love others will leave behind that love to be shared and continue on with his family and friends.

Answer 6

I'm guessing that he's saying what a shame it is for a man to remain single and not have children because he's not showing love for anyone but himself.

Answer 7

he is saying that you cannot let fear of hurting someone or dying and leaving someone behind prevent you from loving. you have to take the risk to love (and hence to hurt or be hurt) in order to reap its rewards. and he's saying besides, if you love and have children, you will not leave your widow weeping, for she will still have a piece of you with her in the form of your children.

Answer 8

i think it might be saying that its a shame he didn't have any children. and when He dies he has no one to carry on his name. No one to care for his widow. Who is now sad and have no more joy in her life or eyes. Joys as in the man in her life her husband or kids to bring joy to her life. Its a shame he didn't love her that much to have kids with her.

Answer 9

one of the beauties of poetry is that it can mean whatever you want it to.

personally, i have a hard time reading shakespeare w/o a translation in the margin :)

Answer 10

what daddy's_girl said