In sonnet 14 the speaker says he does not have the power to predict the future by gazing at the stars in the sky, but the eyes of the young man tell all he needs to know.
First Quatrain
In the first quatrain of Sonnet 14, “Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck,” the speaker says he does not go by astrological star patterns to predict the future. The speaker does, however, have an understanding of astronomy, but still he cannot predict the “good or evil luck, / Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality.” But his understanding of astronomy does not give him the sorcerer’s gift.
Second Quatrain
The speaker continues to say that he cannot even predict the future happenings of the next few minutes; he has no idea whether the weather will include “thunder, rain, and wind,” and he also cannot say how well the reign of certain princes may transpire. The stars do not speak to him of fortune and misfortune.
Third Quatrain
But instead of from the heavenly stars, the speaker acquires his knowledge from the young man’s eyes; those eyes are “constant stars” that the speaker has no difficulty reading, and what he reads is “Truth and beauty shall together thrive, / If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert.”
The truth and beauty that exists in the young man shall continue to “thrive,” if the lad will not continue to store those qualities, but will change his mind about remaining single, and instead marry and produce a suitable heir who then can carry on those qualities of truth and beauty.
The Couplet
Then the speaker does make a prediction that if the young man does not produce a pleasing son to carry on those worthwhile qualities, when the young man dies, so will those qualities: “ Or else of thee this I prognosticate: / ‘Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.’”
The speaker’s purpose in sonnet 14 in explaining his lack of ability to predict the future by supernatural means is that he wants to underscore the importance of his being able to predict the future by completely natural means: if the young man dies without leaving an heir, all of the lad’s pleasant qualities will die with him.
Other articles on Shakespeare: Who is Shakespeare?
Sonnet Commentaries: Sonnet 1, Sonnet 2, Sonnet 3, Sonnet 4, Sonnet 5, Sonnet 6, Sonnet 7, Sonnet 8, Sonnet 9, Sonnet 10, Sonnet 11, Sonnet 12, Sonnet 13, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 19, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130
