Meaning and Commentary - Sonnet 1

My translation:

The world wants more beautiful beings to procreate

So that the perfect example of beauty will live on forever,

And as this perfection gets older and the beauty fades,

A handsome son or daughter will be a reminder of that perfection.

But you being a selfish narcissist, are married to your own face,

And service only yourself with masturbation,

Leaving the rest of the world starving while you feast and overindulge.

These actions are masochistic, you are hurting yourself too, you know.

You who are, now, the most beautiful being the world has to offer

The unique one who can bring spring out of winter,

You keep your talents all to yourself,

And, gentle boor (sweet miser), waste them in this way.

Too bad for the rest of us, because this selfish person (ahem. YOU),

Will die, and as if in cahoots with death, your talents are wasted twice.

This sonnet is about the selfishness of masturbation. Seriously. If you are going to be squeamish you should probably stay away from Shakespeare. If not, read on:

1. "Selfe substantiall fewell." Most scholar's seem confused by these words, "How a candle is self sustaining I am sure I have no idea," they proclaim and move on. A candle melts and is gone, but where did Shakespeare write candle? The line is "thy light's flame." Semen, however, is self substance and fuel for all life. The author is persuading a beautiful young man to procreate by appealing to his ego and praising his good looks. We are talking about having a child here, which can only be done by having sex (in those days), and yet this selfish boy chooses to waste his semen on himself. He is "contracted," as in married, betrothed, and in love with his own eyes. He, like Narcissus before him, stares in the mirror and masturbates, wasting his semen and thereby robbing the world of his beautiful children. Shakespeare calls this masochism: "to thy sweets self too cruel." It is a dirty joke played underneath an otherwise confusing metaphor.

2. "Within thine own bud, buriest thy content," is another masturbation metaphor, however the historians seem to agree on this. Content is a double-entendre: substance and pleasure. Not quite as exciting as the first. Shakespeare tells the youth that he is the most beautiful being ever created, with unique and priceless talents, and yet he pleasures himself alone selfishly when he should be procreating, which would be to the benefit of all.

Another Point:

It isn't nearly as exciting as sexual self satisfaction, but it is infinitely important to notice the attitude toward the possibility of immortality in the sonnets; especially the first seventeen. In Sonnet 1, he brings attention to the subject's mortality, urging him to come to terms with the inevitability of death. He alludes to death three times in a fourteen line poem: "beauty's rose might never die" (2), "but as the Riper should by time decease" (3), and "by the grave and thee" (14). The point is this: there is no immortality beyond procreation. You will die and leave nothing for us to remember you by. This is travesty given your greatness.

His mind been severely changed by Sonnet 18.