Although Shakespeare's sonnets are about diverse subjects (including but not limited to love and death), they are all written in the same format (now referred to as a Shakespearean sonnet) with specific iambic pentameter and rhyme scheme. A prolific writer, Shakespeare wrote 162 sonnets during his lifetime, all titled only by their number. The first group of sonnets is believed to have been written to a beautiful young man, the second half to a "dark lady" of Shakespeare's obsessions. Sonnet 12 is a well-known example of a sonnet from the first group. This sonnet uses diction through allusions to time to help portray an overall theme of defiance against change.
Shakespeare was a talented writer, and his use of diction exemplifies this. Throughout the sonnet, he repeats words in the body and the ending couplet, so as to tie the ideas together, and to portray his idea/theme. He also uses allusions to aging and death, and different models for time. His word choice is also splendid, for he is praising the beauty of his young man, and so uses words that illustrate beauty and youth.
There are numerous allusions to time in this sonnet, the first of which being the number of the sonnet. There are 12 hours in a day (if one divides the day exactly in half for both day and night), and this is Sonnet 12. Also, the first 17 of Shakespeare's sonnets are commonly believed to be about time and its threat to youth, beauty, and life. (3) This may not be so obvious, but line one clearly shows references time when it says, "count the clock that tells the time." (1) Not only does this consciously reference time, but the line also does so subliminally with repetition of the sounds "t" and "k," which imitate the sound of a ticking clock.
Not only is there use of subtle onomatopoeia, but there is also reiteration of the word "time" throughout the sonnet. It is mentioned three times and modeled in three different ways.