Let this sad interim like the ocean be Which parts the shore, where two contracted new Come daily to the banks, that, when they see Return of love, more blest may be the view; Or call it winter, which, being full of care, Makes summer’s welcome thrice more wish’d, more rare.

The exact date of its composition is unknown, it is thought that the Fair Youth sequence was written in the first half of the 1590s and was published with the rest of the sonnets in the 1609 Quarto.

It follows the form's typical rhyme scheme, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and is written in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions.

In the Fair Youth section Shakespeare details his feelings towards the young man that he is in love with.

In Sonnet 55, the poet's relationship with the young man is steady and secure, but here there is a sudden shift from confidence to deep insecurity.

At the same time, the poet suggests that a "separation" may be what the relationship needs in order to "renew the intensity of their devotion."

The identity of the "Sweet love" is not located in the poem and the ultimate fate of the relationship is left ambiguous.

[3] As the poet implores "Sweet love" (1) to conquer the lust that is ruining his union with the young man.

The situation becomes even more clear when we read Sonnet 57, in which the poet, now very worried about the young man's lustful nature, asks him outright, "Being your slave, what should I do but tend/Upon the hours and times of your desire? ...

[8] A "wink" closes the eyes like "two mouths" and so the winker is eating the "sight of the beloved that they shut themselves against further cramming" "Dullness" is likely referencing a sexual lethargy.

Line nine and ten appears to conjure an image where the poet and his lover are on opposite sides of a shore but it is not tragic like in other applications.

[11] Lines eleven and twelve supports this: "Come daily to the banks, that when they see" "Return of love, more blessed be the view."

[3] Shakespeare uses "or" in line thirteen's "Or call it winter, which being full of care" in order to signal that an analogy is coming.