But be contented when that fell arrest Without all bail shall carry me away; My life hath in this line some interest, Which for memorial still with thee shall stay.

There is a sense in this poem that the young man is like one who will potentially inherit something of value, and is at the bedside of a dying rich relation, and is considering in a legalistic manner what that value will be – once the dead body has been carried away and dumped in the earth as food for worms.

It follows the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and is composed in iambic pentameter, a poetic metre in which each line has five feet, and each foot is a pair of weak/strong syllables.

[5] Some scholars feel Sonnet 74 alludes to Catholic Saint Anne Line and her martyrdom at the time of Reformation.

[6] Along with the sonnet, the Shakespeare poem "The Phoenix and the Turtle" and the play The Tempest are also cited as alluding to St.