The speaker addresses his sonnet as a father would a son, dramatizing how the speaker's life is enhanced in multifaceted ways by his written creations.
First Quatrain: “As a decrepit father takes delight”
In the first quatrain, the speaker compares his lot to an aged father who can take comfort only in his son’s life and achievements and ability to continue living the life of youth and young adulthood. Again, the speaker is addressing his poetry; his poetry is like his son, because the speaker’s creativity gives the poetry life. So the speaker, because of his poetry, can say to is poem: “I // Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth.”
Second Quatrain: “For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit”
The speaker then asserts that regardless of whether the positive qualities of “beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit” actually garner accolades from others, he knows that he creates from these positive qualities. He strives to create beauty in his poetry, and his talent, he believes, is equal to the effort.
The speaker avers that he knows his own mind and heart, and whether his creations are held up like royalty or not, he has attached his love to his works.
Third Quatrain: “So then I am not lame, poor, nor despis’d”
Because of his great talent, the speaker knows he is not “lame, poor, nor despis’d.” In the “shadow” of his creations, he can live abundantly. He is “suffic’d” by the glory of is works, but he claims only a part of that glory, giving much credit to the mystery that is talent.
The speaker in this sonnet’s portrayal harkens back to his plea to the young man to marry and have children who would glorify the young man’s old age. The speaker in this group of poems shows how his poetry saves him from decrepitude and how his love and essence are reflected in his poetic creations.
The Couplet: “Look what is best, that best I wish in thee”
The speaker accounts that he is ten times as happy as he would be without his talent in writing poetry. He invites the poem to look at what is best and realize that all of the speaker’s wishes rest with poem, and because the speaker is lucky enough to entertain such a wish, he is, in fact, blessed with many levels of happiness.
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 14, Sonnet 15, Sonnet 16, Sonnet 17, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 19, Sonnet 20, Sonnet 21, Sonnet 22, Sonnet 23, Sonnet 24, Sonnet 25, Sonnet 26, Sonnet 27, Sonnet 28, Sonnet 29, Sonnet 30, Sonnet 31, Sonnet 32, Sonnet 33, Sonnet 34, Sonnet 35, Sonnet 36, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138
