Meaning, Explanation and critical appreciation of Shakespeare's sonnet-1 "From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase".

 Text: William Shakespeare's Sonnet No.-1

From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase

William Shakespeare

From Fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauty's rose might never die,

But as the riper should by time deceased,

His tender heirmight bear his memory:

But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,

Making a famine where abundance lies, 

Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:

Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament, 

And only herald to the gaudy spring, 

Within thine own bud buriest thy content,

And tender churl mak'st waste in niggarding:

         Pity the world, or else this glutton be, 

         To eat the World's due, by the grave and thee.

Meanings and Explanations: 

Beauty's rose- Here 'rose' is used as a symbol of beauty.

The riper- the man who is becoming riper and riper; the man who is growing older and older.

By time- in course of time. 

His tender heir- his little child who will one day succeed to his father's name and property. 

Might bear his memory- might keep his memory alive.

Contracted- pledged; 

Contracted to thine own bright eyes- committed to the worship of your own beauty. 'Bright Eyes' here refer to the beauty of the poet's friend. 'Contracted' implies that the friend has taken a promise to remain loyal to his own beauty, and not to make use of it for any worldly purpose. Perhaps the poet's friend is fully satisfied with his own beauty and does not believe in sharing it with anybody.

Self-substantial- sufficient in itself; not requiring anything additional or supplementary.

Herald- fore-runner, messenger

Gaudy- having a rich appeal

Tender- youthful

Churl- this word has been used to mean a miser

Niggarding- not spending even the minimum of what is needed.

Critical Appreciation:- 

In this opening sonnet of the sequence,  William Shakespeare urges his friend most probably the Earl of Southampton to get married in order to be able to have children of his own. The argument is very convincing what the give to his friend. We agree that a man should not live for himself but should rear a family. It is nature of all living beings to reproduce without being compelled to do so. As  Shkespeare thought his friend to be one of the loveliest human beings, he wanted that the friend's beauty should not get lost altogether. 

          In this first sonnet,  William Shakespeare has argued a case, so that it appeals more to our intelligence or our reason than to your feelings. It is one of the best of William Shakespeare's Sonnets, even though the argument has been developed in a logical manner with the conclusion coming in the final two lines. At the same time we should not forget that the beauty of his friend is as much a theme of this sonnet as the argument that the friend should get married and produce children.