Section 12 Summary

Sonnet 121: It is better to be evil and thought evil by other people than to be good and thought evil, according to Shakespeare. All people think badly of others, so therefore all people are bad, he concludes.

Sonnet 122: The poet expresses gratitude for the tables that his lady has given him because they always serve to refresh vividly his memory and experience of her, and thus they are a kind of double gift. Their receipt, he says, help to retain fading memories.

Sonnet 123: To time, whose methods often make the old appear new—as in the case of the pyramids—Shakespeare says defiantly he will neither be seduced by the way time distorts reality, nor will he allow the approach of death ("thy scythe") to efface or destroy his love.

Sonnet 124: If his love were the product of politics or affairs of state, it would...