Poetry · Chapter
Sonnet LXII explained
The speaker confesses the sin of self-love that pervades his entire being, yet upon seeing his aged reflection in a mirror, he realizes that his self-praise is actually directed toward the beloved, whose youth and beauty he borrows to adorn
What happens
The speaker confesses the sin of self-love that pervades his entire being, yet upon seeing his aged reflection in a mirror, he realizes that his self-praise is actually directed toward the beloved, whose youth and beauty he borrows to adorn his own declining years.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the dramatic climax because the speaker reaches an emotional and psychological peak of self-aware torm…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Self-Love and Narcissism
The speaker confesses the sin of self-love that consumes him, only to redirect it toward the beloved.
- Time and Mortality
The mirror reveals the speaker's aged and weathered face, confronting him with the passage of time.
Characters to notice
- William Shakespeare
The speaker who examines his own self-love and aging.
- Youth
Implied as the beloved whose beauty the speaker uses to paint over his own age.
Key passages
“Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye And all my soul and all my every part;”
The vice of narcissism has taken over my entire being, my sight, my spirit, and every aspect of myself.
The speaker acknowledges the all-encompassing nature of his self-love.
“But when my glass shows me myself indeed, Beated and chopp’d with tann’d antiquity, Mine own self-love quite contrary I read;”
Yet when my mirror reveals my true appearance, weathered and lined with age, I interpret my self-love in an entirely opposite way.
The mirror forces the speaker to see his aged self, contradicting his earlier self-admiration.
“'Tis thee, myself, that for myself I praise, Painting my age with beauty of thy days.”
It is you, my other self, whom I am actually praising when I praise myself, adorning my old age with the beauty of your youth.
The speaker reveals that his self-love is really love for the beloved, whose youth masks his own aging.
