Sonnet

Sonnet 3- Shakespeare

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose uneared womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity? 
Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime;
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.
   But if thou live, remembered not to be,
   Die single and thine image dies with thee.

The rhyme scheme for this sonnet is ABABCDCDEFEFGG. It is obviously Shakespearean, because, well, Shakespeare wrote it. The sonnet is about procreation and how one's spirit and physical beauty dies with his physical body if he does not make babies. I think the volta is before the last couplet, because it begins to discuss what happens if one does not procreate...the legacy dies, he cannot see himself in the child, etc. The sonnet form kind of contributes to a dreaminess of having children, instead of the whining and crying and ungratefulness. It has a very traditional sonnet form with iambic pentameter throughout. The traditional form further emphasizes his point of a traditional family, with a mother and father creating children that carry on their genes. I thought it was interesting the Shakespeare, who's not a female, was so concerned about children when that was usually a female role.  The 1609 Quarto version reads: 

Looke in thy glaſſe and tell the face thou veweſt, 
Now is the time that face ſhould forme an other, 
Whoſe freſh repaire if now thou not reneweſt, 
Thou doo'ſt beguile the world,vnbleſſe ſome 
mother. 
For where is ſhe ſo faire whoſe vn-eard wombe 
Diſdaines the tillage of thy huſbandry? 
Or who is he ſo fond will be the tombe, 
Of his ſelfe loue to ſtop poſterity? 
Thou art thy mothers glaſſe and ſhe in thee 
Calls backe the louely Aprill of her prime, 
So thou through windowes of thine age ſhalt ſee, 
Diſpight of wrinkles this thy goulden time. 
  But if thou liue remembred not to be, 
  Die ſingle and thine Image dies with thee.