Sonnet 11

I'll start by admitting that it's been difficult for me to approach these poems with the same enthusiasm since Randall's post about Sonnet 6: "But all of a sudden Shakespeare is like that guy in the bar, deep into his fourth bottle of sack who doesn’t know when to stop, either his drinking or his argument: Ten kids, dude! You should have ten kids, then it matters not if you die, like, a thousand deaths, ‘cause there’ll be a whole army of you to live on!" And while it was particularly creepy to ask (no, insist) that this guy have ten kids, I'm starting to see that the entire project, the constant persistence, and especially the hints at violence in the last two poems (murd'rous shame, murd'rous hate, etc.) and the awkward plea that the man "do it for me," drive these sonnets into a creepy realm. Don't worry, Randall, you didn't ruin the poems for me. But you've all have certainly complicated my understanding of Shakespeare's project with the sonnets. Which brings me to my first set of questions: is it fair for me to see these sonnets as a "project"? Is anyone else seeing these sonnets (as a whole, if not necessarily a "project") in a different light (than me? than where you started?).

And now on to Sonnet 11:

As fast as thou shalt wane so fast thou grow'st --

In one of thine, from that which thou departest,

And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'st

Thou mayst call thine, when thou from youth convertest.

Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase;

Without this, folly, age, and cold decay.

If all were minded so, the times should cease

And threescore year would make the world away.

Let those whom nature hath not made for store,

Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish.

Look whom she best endowed, she gave the more;

Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish.

She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby

Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

(If any of you have Stephen Booth's Shakespeare's Sonnets, take a look at the first line of the original printed version. With all the s's and f's in this line, it's pretty to see on the page.)

In general, Shakespeare gives the guy two choices: wisdom, beauty, increase OR folly, old age, decay (reminiscent of Sonnet 6 "make worms thine heir"). It's a common sentiment that's already been established in the previous sonnets, so what is new in this poem? Well, I'd argue that the answer is "not much." The nature character shows up again, this time as the distributor of beauty, power, and life. I'd say that her appearance restores the calm after two emotionally changed sonnets, and returns the poet to an earlier argument: it's only natural for you to procreate because clearly you have been given an excess of beauty and intelligence, which only naturally means you were "meant" to pass it on. As Randall noted in his last post, we obviously don't know the order in which these sonnets were written, but this return to nature and the echo of nature's loan of life and beauty from Sonnet 4 makes me wonder about the order in which these two poems were written.

What am I missing here? Can anyone see anything new that this poem is doing that hasn't been done in previous sonnets?