Sonnet 1

From fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,

But, as the riper should by time decease,

His tender heir might bear his memory.

Sonnet 1 is about the obsession with time and a question: Is it possible to obtain eternal life and overcome mortality? It addresses the young man. These lines are the summary of what he is trying to express. He is saying the rose of beauty is going to die, so you are going to get old. The answer is in line four: to have children, this is the only solution = procreation; this is a recommendation made by the speaker to the young man. In line 12, the niggarding word refers to not being generous, not giving willingly. Having children is the duty of a young man, and he must face his obligations. This obligation is procreation; do not waste your youth by being stingy, and do not die without children because you are going to exterminate your beauty. Callaghan says, "The aspiration expressed here is to sustain not just life in any form but life in its most aesthetically intensified manifestation." He is saying the purpose is not about sustaining human existence, so our speaker does not underline the importance of procreation because he is not worried about humankind. In the first line, he talks about the fairest creatures, not all the humankind. He talks about other beauties.