Sonnet 13 by Shakespeare

Sonnet 13 is the first of Shakespeare's procreation sonnets to contain a declaration of love. Throughout this sonnet are descriptions of the winter and the death in nature that this brings. The winter images captured in Sonnet 5 and Sonnet 6 reappear in this sonnet.

Interpretation and meaning
The first line "O! that you were your self;" means that Shakespeare wants the man he is describing to remain as he is, unchanged, not aging. The sonnet is quite philosophical in that it asks how can a person have an identity if they are constantly changing?

The third line of this sonnet "Against this coming end you should prepare" has a connotation of the Day of Judgment.

Like many of the previous procreation sonnets it describes how the man being described needs to have children. The two lines below describe how a person's essence can be captured in their children and that by having children they would resemble their father.


 * Yourself again, after yourself's decease
 * When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear.