As the book states, these sonnets use the same general concepts: youth, reproduction, beauty, and death. Sonnet 3 is the author’s plea to a man to consider what he is denying the world, and himself, if he does not procreate. He explains the selfishness of the man’s choice not to reproduce “Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother”, in an attempt to help him understand the importance and beauty of making another life. In another appeal, Shakespeare shows him that children are renewed reflections of one’s own youth. He reminds the man that he is a mirror of his mother’s young beauty, and if he does not create an image after himself, he will forget his “golden time”. In a final attempt to sway the man, the author illustrates the sadness of dying without one to carry on your legacy and genes.
This poem had a more direct approach to the subject than the others. In Sonnet 3, he is directly requesting of the man to reconsider his decisions, whereas in the other sonnets he is only implying that they are directed toward another young man. The book asks to study the word choice and structure of the sonnets and how they differ, and I am quite honestly having a little difficulty with that. This sonnet does use harsher imagery than the others (“unear’d womb, tomb”), which lends more of an urgency than the others. I felt a sense of caution throughout all of the sonnets, but this one struck me particularly.
I thought this post was good because Melissa went into the background of sonnets to give a better feel for the text when we read this sonnet. Then I like how she went the way of describing the selfish man instead about interpreting all of the sonnet as a legacy statement.
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