William Shakespeare composed "Sonnet 19" in the 1590s, publishing it in 1609 as part of what's now known as the "Fair Youth" sonnet sequence. Like others in this sequence, the poem meditates on the fleeting nature of youth and beauty. The speaker personifies time as a "devouring" force and suggests that even the strongest, most powerful creatures in the world are susceptible to decay and change. For this reason, the speaker asks time to leave the speaker's lover alone, hoping to protect the lover's youthful beauty. By the end of the poem, though, the speaker insists that it doesn't matter whether time ruins the lover's beauty, since the poem itself will preserve this beauty forever.
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The Full Text of “Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws”
1Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
2And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
3Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
4And burn the long-liv'd Phoenix in her blood;
5Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
6And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
7To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
8But I forbid thee one more heinous crime:
9O, carve not with the hours my love's fair brow,
10Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen!
11Him in thy course untainted do allow
12For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
13Yet do thy worst, old Time! Despite thy wrong
14My love shall in my verse ever live young.
The Full Text of “Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws”
1Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
2And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
3Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
4And burn the long-liv'd Phoenix in her blood;
5Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
6And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
7To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
8But I forbid thee one more heinous crime:
9O, carve not with the hours my love's fair brow,
10Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen!
11Him in thy course untainted do allow
12For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
13Yet do thy worst, old Time! Despite thy wrong
14My love shall in my verse ever live young.
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“Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Summary
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“Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Themes
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Time and Decay
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Art and Immortality
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws”
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Lines 1-2
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood; -
Lines 3-4
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-liv'd Phoenix in her blood; -
Lines 5-7
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets; -
Lines 8-10
But I forbid thee one more heinous crime:
O, carve not with the hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen! -
Lines 11-12
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For beauty's pattern to succeeding men. -
Lines 13-14
Yet do thy worst, old Time! Despite thy wrong
My love shall in my verse ever live young.
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“Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Symbols
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The Lion, Tiger, and Phoenix
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“Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Parallelism
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Alliteration
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Personification
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Metaphor
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Caesura
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Allusion
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End-Stopped Line
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Apostrophe
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“Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Devour
- Blunt
- Thou/Thy/Thine
- Brood
- Pluck
- Keen
- Long-liv'd Phoenix
- Fleets
- Whate'er
- wilt
- Swift-footed
- Heinous
- Fair
- Antique
- Untainted
- Succeeding
- Ever
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Speaker
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“Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws”
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More “Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws” Resources
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External Resources
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Patrick Stewart Reads the Poem — Listen to the actor Sir Patrick Stewart give a dramatic reading of "Sonnet 19."
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Long Live the Phoenix — To better understand the poem's reference to the "long-liv'd Phoenix," explore the information about the mythological creature.
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More About the Bard — To learn more about Shakespeare, take a look at this overview of his life and work.
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1609 Facsimile — Check out this facsimile of the 1609 publication of "Sonnet 19" to get a sense of what it would have been like to read Shakespeare during his lifetime.
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Shakescleare Translation — Gain some extra clarity with our concise and understandable modern English translation of "Sonnet 19."
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