Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws by William Shakespeare

Full Text

Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood,
And make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets;
Do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.

Overview

Sonnet 19 directly addresses Time as an adversary. The speaker grants Time permission to do its worst—blunt lions, burn phoenixes, cycle seasons—but draws a line: "My love shall in my verse ever live young." It's a declaration of war ending in defiant victory through poetry.

Line-by-Line Analysis

Lines 1-4

Commands to Time: blunt the lion's claws, make earth consume its offspring, even burn the immortal phoenix. Escalating concessions.

Lines 5-6

"Do thy worst"—a challenge. Despite Time's wrongs, verse preserves love eternally young. Poetry trumps mortality.

Themes

• Time as devourer
• Poetry as defiance
• Challenge to mortality
• Preservation through verse

Literary Devices

Apostrophe

Devouring Time, blunt thou... — Direct address to an abstraction—confrontational tone.

Personification

Time as agent who "blunts" and "burns" — Time becomes an active destroyer to be challenged.

Historical Context

Transitions from procreation sonnets to poetry-as-immortality theme. The phoenix was a symbol of renewal, yet even it falls to Time.