born to grow to then die. To expand this idea we can refer to the phrase “Crawls to maturity”, this could mean the sun is slowly ascending through the sky and comparing that to a child moving into adolescence to adulthood at a slow and steady pace of a baby’s crawl however once reached their prime “crowned” the pace quickens and they descend to old age and then death. There is a shift in the poem after “crowned”, up until this point the poem has been building upon itself with the notion of time never being at a stand-still using an ocean metaphor and always moving forward to the imagery of the destructive and damaging effects of time.

Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,
(Shakespeare 2010 [1609], 60.9)

Time is personified as a powerful force. To “transfix” means to destroy, the conceit here is of time as a monster. This extended metaphor may invite feelings of distress for the reader as time is real and relevant and this sonnet is an exemplary example of the negative aspects of the passage of time. To have something “set” is to have been given it like youth, which is a beautiful time in one’s life and time being a destructive force will wait like a predator until youth is at its prime before attacking the creation, “Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth” (60.11). Time is the reason for change in appearance with “delves the parallels” (60.10) suggesting time carves the consequences of old age.

The passing of time is a key theme which occurs throughout all three sonnets; although Shakespeare generally follows a conventional structural pattern of ababcdcdefefgg with an iambic pentameter ‘Sonnet 5’ and ‘Sonnet 60’ differ in contrast. Time is a construct throughout all three sonnets but is emphasised as a force of destruction in ‘Sonnet 60’ as ‘Sonnet 20’ highlights the admiration of man with time being hinted. However, ‘Sonnet 5’ meets both ideas in the middle with the admiration of man but then also reminding man of the consequences of time. Shakespeare