Analysis of Sonnet 12When I count the clock that tells the time, and see the brave day sunk in the horrible night: when I see the purple past first, and the black curls o' er-silvered all white; when I see tall trees stripped of leaves, which previously covered the herd from the heat, and the green of summer all wrapped in sheaves carried on the coffin with a white and bristly beard: then make of your beauty I ask you to make sure that you must go among the ruins of time, for sweets and beauties abandon themselves, and die as soon as they see others grow; and nothing can defend itself against the scythe of time except the race that challenges it when it takes you away. is a fun sonnet that uses images of nature, widely present in Petrarch, which Shakespeare uses to make his point. Not much explanation is needed, other than sustained images of nature, to fully understand the intent, but I would like to point out a peculiar allusion. Reading line 3, “purple past prime” made me think of Venus and Adonis. In the end, Adonis melts into the earth and where his body was, a violet sprouts, which Venus then places in his heart, signifying the love she has for him. Reading this in the poem makes the following few lines more meaningful. Having Adonis represented as the handsome young man, Shakespeare alludes to the death of youth (in general and of the young man) through the sonnet. In the next line, it is uncertain whether "sable" is an adjective or a noun, and whether "curls" is a noun, referring to hair (which is plausible) or a verb modifying "sable." Invoking the allusion to Adonis here, Shakespeare predicts that if Adonis lived longer, he too would have gray hair; thus, Shakespeare sees ["behold"] a figure of Adonis, the youth, beyond his youth.