Sonnet 67

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Shakespeare. Sonnet 1

«Ah! wherefore with infection should he live,
And with his presence grace impiety». 

Sonnet 67 continues the thought of the previous sonnet, and develops a new argument in its reflection upon the poet’s contemporary age.

Sonnet 67
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Ah! wherefore with infection should he live,
And with his presence grace impiety,
That sin by him advantage should achieve
And lace itself with his society?
Why should false painting imitate his cheek
And steal dead seeing of his living hue?
Why should poor beauty indirectly seek
Roses of shadow, since his rose is true?
Why should he live, now Nature bankrupt is,
Beggar’d of blood to blush through lively veins?
For she hath no exchequer now but his,
And, proud of many, lives upon his gains.
O, him she stores, to show what wealth she had
In days long since, before these last so bad.

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Although the poet still professes faith in the youth’s natural endowments, he is put out of sorts by the public rage for artificial beauty in life and art: “Why should false painting imitate his cheek / And steal dead seeing of his living hue?”  What’s more, he wonders why the young man would submit himself to such false treatment.

The youth is the standard of beauty against which everything else is measured: “Why should poor beauty indirectly seek / Roses of shadow, since his rose is true?”  Natural beauty needs no cosmetics, yet the youth subjects himself to impostor artists who alter his appearance by false means.

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Credits

English audio from YouTube Channel Socratica

Summary from Cliffsnotes.com

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