Shakespeare: Sonnet 7

Shakespeare: Sonnet 7

Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye
Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,
Serving with looks his sacred majesty;
And having climb'd the steep-up heavenly hill,
Resembling strong youth in his middle age,
yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,
Attending on his golden pilgrimage;
But when from highmost pitch, with weary car,
Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day,
The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are
From his low tract and look another way:
So thou, thyself out-going in thy noon,
Unlook'd on diest, unless thou get a son.

This is William Shakespeare's seventh sonnet. Today in class we were given this sonnet, and we needed to translate it into our own words. After looking up the word orient, I learnt that it meant east. In the poem it talks about gracious light from the orient, so it means the sun ascending into the sky. Once I knew that, I began interpreting it into my own words...

My Interpretation:

When the sun comes out from the east everybody turns and looks. They all show respect to the sun, and admire it. They are mesmerized  Since the sun came all the way up the sky, on a long journey, people acknowledge it as beautiful and strong. But, when the sun finally reaches the top of the sky, it turns frail, weak, and old, so it must go back down (set). Everyone whose eyes were once eager, are now uninterested, and turn away, carrying on with their lives. This concepts relates to the human condition. Everyone is on their way to old age and if they don't have a child, Shakespeare is suggesting their life will have been pointless, and they will die insignificantly (like the sun setting).