Poetry · Chapter
LXVII explained
The poet laments that the young man lives in a corrupt age, where his beauty is exploited by sin and false imitation.
What happens
The poet laments that the young man lives in a corrupt age, where his beauty is exploited by sin and false imitation. Nature, now bankrupt, preserves him as a relic of a bygone era of true beauty.
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
- Beauty and Transience
The youth's beauty is a remnant of a purer past, now threatened by a corrupt present.
- Truth and Deception
False painting and shadow are contrasted with the youth's true, living hue.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Ah! wherefore with infection should he live, And with his presence grace impiety, That sin by him advantage should achieve And lace itself with his society?”
Why should he live in a corrupt world, lending his beauty to wickedness, so that sin gains power by associating with him?
The poet questions why the young man's purity is wasted on a sinful society.
“Why should poor beauty indirectly seek Roses of shadow, since his rose is true?”
Why should inferior beauty imitate his real beauty with artificial roses, when his own rose is genuine?
The poet contrasts the youth's authentic beauty with imitations.
“O, him she stores, to show what wealth she had In days long since, before these last so bad.”
Nature preserves him as a display of the riches she once possessed in better times, before this corrupt age.
The youth is a living relic of a past golden age.
