shakespeare's 1st sonnet

To begin, Shakespeare uses several examples in the sonnet to express the wastefulness involved in sexual relations without procreation. The phrase “Making a famine where abundance lies” (Shakespeare 7) connects the lack of food when there is plenty, to the lack of procreation when it is fully conceivable. Shakespeare also concludes that it is not only a waste to the earth, but also to oneself. The phrase “Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel”(Shakespeare 8) reveals that not procreating means dying without passing on traits to a new generat

The traditional view in a Christian context is that the superfluous consumption of food is a gluttonous act. The earth provides human beings with food and one is expected to take what is needed and also to give back to the earth in exchange. Gluttony is one of the Seven Deadly Sins leading to eternal punishment. The selfish act of gluttony in this sonnet is related to the sinfulness of sex without procreation.

Besides drawing a comparison between sexual relations without procreation and gluttony, Shakespeare makes a connection between sexual relations without procreation and violating the natural world order. Shakespeare compares the ways of people to the ways of nature. People reproduce themselves in order to give back to the earth for what it has provided. Consider the apple tree: it takes from the earth water, nutrients, and light and in return provides the earth with its apples. When one does not give back to the earth in exchange for what the earth has provided this is a violation of the natural order that expects eac

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