Sonnet 126: O Thou, My Lovely Boy, Who in Thy Power
Sonnet 126: O Thou, My Lovely Boy, Who in Thy Power - context Summary
Published in 1609
A sonnet from Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609) addressing a "lovely boy" who seems to master Time’s effects. The speaker observes that as the boy matures others fade, and suggests Nature prolongs his beauty only to showcase her power. That grace is temporary: Nature may delay loss but ultimately must return the boy to Time. The poem frames preservation as a postponed, inevitable reckoning rather than true escape from mortality.
Read Complete AnalysesO thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power Dost hold Time’s fickle glass his fickle hour; Who hast by waning grown, and therein show’st Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet self grow’st. If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack, As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back, She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill May Time disgrace, and wretched minutes kill. Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure! She may detain, but not still keep her treasure. Her audit, though delayed, answered must be, And her quietus is to render thee.
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