Sonnet 80 incorporates a nautical metaphor to further the rival poet theme. The speaker compares himself to a “saucy bark”—a small, frivolous boat—that is subordinate to the stately and grandiose ship of the rival poet. Both ships sail on the “broad main,” or sea, which represents the fair youth—the source of inspiration for both poets’ works. The speaker believes that his love for the fair youth will inspire him to write, just as the sea will keep his small boat afloat. However, the final couplet takes on a darker tone as the speaker describes his personal shipwreck. Metaphorically speaking, the sea which has kept him afloat also destroys him. The fair youth causes the speaker to “decay” by choosing to support the rival poet.

During the Elizabethan era, the word “numbers” was often used to refer to the metrical pattern of poetic feet. The speaker grapples with the loss of his “Muse,” the fair youth, who has apparently left him for the rival poet. He laments the loss of the fair youth’s “gentle grace,” which has rendered his poetry obsolete and the previously “gracious” meter of his poetry “decay’d.”

Sonnet 78 begins the set of sonnets known as the “Rival Poet” sonnets, which span sonnets 78 to 86. These sonnets deal with the speaker’s jealousy towards an unnamed rival poet who vies for the fair youth’s attention. Here, the rival poet is introduced as an “alien pen” who uses the fair youth as inspiration to “mend [his] style.” The poet exposes his jealousy by claiming hold of the fair youth as his one true muse who heightens his “rude ignorance.”

In Sonnet 77, one of the final sonnets from the decay and time sequence, the speaker despairs about the deterioration of time, memory, and beauty. Here, he personifies “Time” as a thief who bores on stealthily and incessantly. In the following line, he laments the fallibility of memory to capture human experience. These lines contribute to the sonnet’s theme of the fleeting nature of humanity as time inevitably progresses.

Perhaps in preparation for the “Rival Poet” sequence in sonnets 78-86, the speaker reaffirms his undying and perpetual love for the fair youth. The volta in line nine culminates in a declaration of the speaker’s love for the fair youth, who provides unyielding inspiration for his poetry. Through the final two lines in the sonnet, the speaker metaphorically compares his love for the fair youth to the sun, which seems new each time it emerges and yet is constant in its cycles. The speaker asserts his love, claiming that he will continue to retell his constant love for the fair youth in each new sonnet.

The three commas in this line intentionally slows down the pace of the poem and provides a sharp contrast against the rapid, staccato phrasing of the following line, "which shake against the cold.” The contrast between the two phrases heightens the rhythmic patterning of the second line, which mimics the sounds of barren trees shaking in the cold.

Reflective journaling was a common practice among the nobility in Elizabethan England. In Sonnet 77, the speaker gives the youth a book and encourages him to “commit” his thoughts to “waste blanks”—to write his thoughts down on blank sheets of paper. There is an echo of the procreation sonnets, particularly when the speaker compares the youth’s thoughts to “children.” Rather than encourage the youth to have a child, the speaker tells the youth to write down his thoughts so that the youth might “profit,” or benefit, from them later. The speaker values the ability of words to immortalize a person, so perhaps he is inducing the youth to preserve himself with the journal.

The speaker outlines an internal conflict and sense of restlessness in Sonnet 75, comparing his love for the fair youth to “a miser and his wealth.” He is proud of their relationship but also worries that that the fair youth will be taken from him. The youth gives him joy but he is too afraid of losing the youth’s affection to truly be content. The speaker is also torn between wanting to enjoy the youth’s company in private and wanting to show off his happiness to the world. The final couplet describes the speaker’s inability to be satisfied, since he either overindulges in the fair youth’s company or does not see him at all.

Sonnet 74 is a direct continuation of Sonnet 73. The speaker puts an optimistic spin on his own eventual death, which he ruminates on in Sonnet 73. In opposition to the more self-deprecating language of Sonnets 71 and 72, wherein the speaker encourages the fair youth to forget about him, in Sonnet 74 the speaker reassures the youth that his “spirit” will remain even after his body is gone. Rather than just preserving the youth and beauty of his beloved in writing, the speaker now asserts that his own spirit will be preserved through poetry as well. As long as the fair youth remembers him and reads his poems, his spirit will live on.

In a continuation of the sentiments of Sonnet 71, the speaker expresses shame at the thought of being remembered fondly after his death. He encourages the fair youth to forget about him when he dies and refrain from glorifying his memory. The speaker’s poetry—that which he “bring[s] forth”—is cast as a source of shame for both the poet and the fair youth. Sonnets 71 and 72 represent another instance of the speaker’s apparent insecurity over his poetic talent surfacing. The inconsistency of the speaker’s tone and attitude throughout the entire sonnet sequence serves to make him a complex and nuanced voice. It also also serves as a reminder that the sonnets may have been compiled without Shakespeare’s consent or input regarding their format or order.

The sharp and sudden contrast, emphasized by the interjection of “O!” in line nine, alerts the reader to the volta, or turning point, of the sonnet. With this volta, the speaker resolves the sonnet on a more lighthearted note, wishing for the fair youth to find resolve and comfort even after the speaker dies.

For in-depth look at “Sonnet 73,” read our expert analysis on its own page.

This line containing three commas intentionally slows down the pace of the poem so that the words "which shake against the cold" in the next line will be more effective in contrast. 

Notice the alliteration of the w sounds in this phrase. Perhaps these sounds mimic the diminishing din of metal on metal after the bell tolls, creating an echo following the strong “s” alliteration of the “surly sullen bells.”

The assonance of the o sounds in the first four words of the sonnet, in combination with the evocative imagery and consonance in phrases like “surly sullen bell” and “this vile world with vilest worms to dwell,” establish a morose mood as the speaker envisions his own passing.

The phrase “for I love you so” is striking in its simplicity. The speaker arrives at this phrase after the morbid imagery about the “vile world with vilest worms,” offering an unexpected turn of hope as the speaker comes to terms with his own death. The “sweet thoughts” in the following line are made all the sweeter against the backdrop of death and decay.

In line 4, the speaker emphasizes the vileness of the world and the even greater vileness of the worms in order to prepare for the contrast when he comes to line 7 in which he says:

That I in thy sweet thoughts would be forgot...

The contrast with the vileness previously described serves to make the "sweet thoughts" and the person thinking them seem all the sweeter. 

The word “vile” has two definitions, referring to both the physical and the intangible. In the former definition, “vile” can characterize something that is physically repulsive; in the latter, it can describe an idea that is morally despicable. The speaker highlights his disgust by coupling the consonance of the scathing v sound with the abhorrence he feels for both the abstract world as well as the physical worms which dwell upon the earth.

Each of the three quatrains in this sonnet contains a metaphor for old age. In the first quatrain, the poet compares the point he is at in life to late fall, when the trees are almost totally bare. In the second quatrain, he compares his age to twilight, a time when the sun has set but a little light remains in the sky, with the coming of night representing death. In the third quatrain he compares his age to the glowing remains of a fire being consumed by its own ashes. The closing couplet asserts that the fair youth is better able to love the speaker because the fleeting nature of existence inspires deeper emotional engagement.

The phrase “surly sullen” creates a somber tone: the former adjective describes a bad temperament and the latter gloominess. Through assonance, the repetition of the muted u sounds as well as l sounds, these two adjectives appropriately mimic the sounds of a death knell, or the tolling of a bell to signal someone’s death.

In many of Shakespeare’s works, night is metaphorically compared to death, perhaps most notably in Hamlet, in which Prince Hamlet asks “for in that sleep of death what dreams may come?”, and in Macbeth, in which Macbeth praises sleep—“the death of each day’s life”—after murdering King Duncan.

The consonance of three s sounds in "sweet," "birds," and "sang," helps to create the auditory imagery of birds chirping. The image of songbirds alludes to the joyful and poetically productive past that the speaker nostalgically laments.