Sonnet III by W.Shakespeare

Translation:

Guarda nel tuo specchio e dimmi che faccia vedi

Ora è il momento in cui la faccia dovrebbe formarne un'altra

Il cui fresco riparo se adesso tu non rinnovi

Tu ingannerai il mondo e renderai una qualche madre non benedetta

Chi è questa donna cosi bella che potrebbe

disdegnare un rapporto coniugale con un uomo come te?

O chi è colui affezionato solo a se stesso

Da non concedersi a una donna per prolificare per la sua specie?

Tu sei lo specchio di tua madre e lei in te

Richiama l'amorevole Aprile del suo rigoglio

Cosi tu attraverso le finestre della tua età vedrai

Pur con le rughe questo aureo tempo

Ma se vivi per non lasciar ricordo,
muori solo, e con te la tua immagine.

Denotative Analysis:

This Sonnet is written by Shakespeare, and belongs to his Marriage Sonnets.

It is organized into three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet; infact, it is an Elizabethan Sonnet.

In the first quatrain the narrator speaks to a young men and invites him to have a child and bless a mother.

In the second quatrain the speaking voice makes two questions to convince and persuade the young man to marry a woman and to have children so that he can guarantee posterity.

In the third quatrain Shakespeare refers particulary to time. He shows April as "lovely" because in spring nature reborns and this is the right period to have children. Shakespeare underlines the importance of time ("golden time" because of his youth) because the problem is that time passes. The young man can't stop because there is not enough time in life.

In the last two lines, that is the final couplet, the speaking voice repeats the concept with few words. Shakespeare invites again the young man not to die single and not to make his beauty die with him.

Finally in this sonnet the reader can understand that Shakespeare likes the young man and he describes him as a beautiful man. He wants to make him understand his beauty and the importance of having children: young's beauty has to continue in the future. But time passes so Shakespeare hopes that the young man takes quickly a decision.