Sonnet 10

The Case for Posterity

1 For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any,
2 Who for thy self art so unprovident.
3 Grant, if thou wilt, thou art belov'd of many,
4 But that thou none lov'st is most evident:
5 For thou art so possess'd with murderous hate,
6 That 'gainst thy self thou stick'st not to conspire,
7 Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate
8 Which to repair should be thy chief desire.
9 O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind:
10 Shall hate be fairer lodg'd than gentle love?
11 Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind,
12 Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove:
13 Make thee another self for love of me,
14 That beauty still may live in thine or thee.

Notes

TLN 127archaic vocab
“deny that thou bear'st love to any, Who for thy self art so unprovident”
'Unprovident' means failing to make provision for the future — the word carries legal and financial weight, as a person who dies without an heir leaves his estate, name, and lineage in disorder. The speaker accuses the Youth of a double failure: not loving others, and not looking ahead to secure his own continuation.
historical The procreation argument (Sonnets 1-17)
TLN 131rhetorical device
“possess'd with murderous hate, That 'gainst thy self thou stick'st not to conspire”
The speaker uses deliberate overstatement: refusing to have children is called 'murderous hate' and a conspiracy against oneself. 'Stick'st not to' means 'do not hesitate to' — so the Youth does not flinch from plotting his own destruction. The language of murder and conspiracy charges the Youth with an active will to self-ruin, not mere carelessness.
TLN 133archaic vocab
“beauteous roof to ruinate Which to repair should be thy chief desire”
'Roof' here means a house or family line — the Youth's beauty is figured as a noble dwelling that shelters his lineage. 'Ruinate' is an archaic verb meaning to cause to fall into ruin or collapse. By refusing to produce an heir, the Youth allows his 'house' (both his physical body and his family name) to decay rather than maintaining it.
TLN 135rhetorical device
“O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind”
This is the volta — the turn of argument that the sonnet form conventionally places at line 9. The speaker switches from accusation to personal appeal, and the antimetabole ('change thy thought / change my mind') makes the two minds mirror each other. For the first time in the procreation sequence the speaker speaks as 'I,' making the argument a matter of affection between the two, not only an abstract duty.
historical The sonnet form
TLN 139cultural context
“Make thee another self for love of me, That beauty still may live in thine or thee”
The couplet reframes procreation as a gift to the speaker rather than an abstract duty: 'make a child for my sake.' 'Another self' was a standard Renaissance phrase for a child who perpetuates the parent's identity; the idea that friendship or love creates a second self comes from Aristotle. 'Still' means 'always' or 'continually' — beauty will persist either in a child ('thine') or in the Youth himself ('thee') as long as he lives.
historical The procreation argument (Sonnets 1-17)