In sonnet 54, the speaker avers that beauty is only beautiful when it represents the truth of the soul; outward beauty is truly only skin deep.
First Quatrain: “O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem”
In the first quatrain of Shakespeare Sonnet 54, the speaker proclaims that beauty is even more genuine when the object of loveliness is inwardly and as well as outwardly beautiful. He exemplifies his claim by citing the human feeling regarding a rose: “The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem / For that sweet odour, which doth in it live.”
Because the rose smells sweet even as its petals display beauty, the flower is then held in ever higher regard. The beauty of the petals portray the outward beauty of the rose, while its aromatic fragrance represents its inward beauty.
Second Quatrain: “The canker blooms have full as deep a dye”
In contrast to the cultivated roses that produce beauty for both the visual and olfactory senses, the speaker cites the “canker blooms” which are wild dog roses. The wild canker blooms also present an outwardly pleasant appearance, but they lack the “perfumed tincture of the [cultivated] roses.” Similar to the cultivated roses, the canker flowers also are protected by thorns, and “summer’s breath” “plays” over them, but they are not truly appreciated, and they are not pressed into service for human beings as the perfumed roses are.
Third Quatrain: “But, for their virtue only is their show”
Unlike the perfumed rose, the canker roses have only the outward beauty. They are not sought after because their beauty exists only in the outward appearance of their petals. They do not exude their inward beauty. The cankers “[d]ie to themselves.” The “[s]weet roses” are sought after for their outer and inner beauty. The sweet fragranced roses are turned into perfume after they expire: “Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made.”
The Couplet: “And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth”
In the couplet, “And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, / When that shall vade, my verse distills your truth,” the speaker reveals that he has been making this comparison for the sake of his heavenly muse. The muse is eternally youthful, because it is a function of the immortal soul; the muse is eternally “lovely,” because it reflects the beauty of the soul.
However, a poet’s muse may seem to lose its vitality or evade the “beauteous and lovely” qualities as the poet ages. This poet/speaker vows to “distill your truth” in his verse. He will capture the truth in his poems; he will not be satisfied with making outwardly lovely sonnets, but instead he will fill them with eternal truths about transcendent things.
Other Shakespeare articles: Who is Shakespeare?
Sonnet Commentaries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 73, 96, 116, 126, 130, 138
