Shakespeare's sonnets, although based on the Petrarchan model, are considered to be of their own merit due to the influence they imposed on English Literature. Petrarchan sonnets and Shakespearean sonnets differ in rhyme pattern and theme presentation, their structural similarities are the fourteen lines, consisting of three quatrains and the ending couplet. Shakespeare wrote a collection of fifty sonnets, all connected by his thoughts and desires. It is sometimes difficult to understand who or what the poet is talking about in a single sonnet. To gain a better understanding of what the poet is expressing, you would need to peruse through the rest of the sonnet collection.
In sonnet number 5, "When I consider everything that grows", the poet seems to be pondering mans place in the universe. Indeed, his place in the universe. The poet reflects on the scope of the universe, with reference to "this huge stage", "the stars", and "the self-same sky". He refers to man as like a plant, subject to the same laws of nature. The first quatrain embodies a sentiment of realisation that the universe does indeed have an order, and that this order is controlled by time. Time is a continuous theme throughout this sonnet, referred to in the second line "a little moment" and reinforced with capitalisation in the third quatrain and couplet. The second quatrain deals with the aspect of aging. "Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease", boasting of youth, there will come a time when their "brave state", or short lived "perfection" will come to an end and the memory of such will gradually fade forever. In the third quatrain, the poet shifts his thoughts to the person for whom he writes. Declaring that he sees the individual as "most rich in youth before my sight". He also considers that "Time debateth with decay, to change your day of youth to sullied night", an extension of the aging theme in the second quatrain.
