This sonnet should be paired with the following sonnet 65, because in 64 the speaker presents his fear and in 65 he shows how it is mitigated.
First Quatrain: “When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defac’d”
Beginning with the first quatrain, the speaker asserts four adverbial “when” clauses, two in the first quatrain, each dramatizing the theme of decay and loss. The speak avers that he has seen “outworn buried age[s] devastated by the hand of Time.
He has seen “lofty towers” taken down and “brass eternal slave to mortal rage.” Through war and civil havoc, the speaker has observed the destruction that comes to all things in the mortal world.
Second Quatrain: “When I have seen the hungry ocean gain”
Continuing with the third “when” clause, the speaker turns to the natural events of the ocean that ranges upon the shore. He has observed the give and take of the waves beating upon the land causing erosion of the sand, and yet the land fights back and gains control from the waves. What the waves bring to land, the land again offers to the waves in a never-ending battle of opposite natures.
Third Quatrain: “When I have seen such interchange of state”
The final “when” clause discloses that the speaker has seen nations go down to decay. Then the speaker reveals that when he has taken all of this decay and devastation into account, he has learned from all of this “ruin” “to ruminate” and conclude, “Time will come and take my love away.”
From all of his observation and experience watching things be spoiled, destroyed, wrecked, and broken, he draws a certain conclusion about how the physical world operates. From the young child who thinks his world will yield to his joys eternally to the old man who has seen perpetual destruction, the mind of man comes to realize the evanescence of all physical existence.
The Couplet: “This thought is as a death, which cannot choose”
In the couplet, “This thought is as a death, which cannot choose / But weep to have that which it fears to lose,” the speaker dramatizes his logical conclusion that if one cannot escape “death” and loss, then one has no choice but to be driven to the dread of losing what he has.
The sonnet leaves the reader with an empty feeling, which is unlike most of the other sonnets. The speaker habitually poses problems but almost always solves them. This sonnet leaves the reader with a loss that is not restored until the next sonnet.
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, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 73, 96, 116, 126, 130, 138, 146
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