When to the sessions of sweet silent thought / I summon up remembrance of things past
The sonnet’s first two lines set the scene for the poem. The speaker is alone and recalling the past. The speaker's dreamy state of mind is supported by the many sibilants ("s" sounds) in these lines: sessions, sweet, silent, summon. The words “sessions” and “summon” show that the speaker imagines this silent meditation as a kind of court session in which witnesses are called to testify.
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste
As the speaker thinks about the past, he newly bewails past losses. “Dear time’s waste” is a difficult phrase that can be interpreted in different ways. It can mean time wasted, yet it also points to the way time does harm to the things one holds dear. The speaker may also mean that his best years have been wasted, or that a former time that was very valuable to him has been lost.
For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night
The speaker cries over old friends. The word “dateless” here means “unending.” Death is like an endless night that captures the people he once loved.
And weep afresh love’s long since cancelled woe
Upon recalling the past, the speaker cries once more for things he long ago already cried over. Since he has already cried in the past, it is as if his debt was “canceled” (a financial term meaning “paid in full”).
And moan th’expense of many a vanished sight
Scholars point out that in the period Shakespeare was writing, there was no firm distinction between the words “sigh” and “sight.” They could be written or pronounced in the same way. Both meanings are possible in this line. The speaker could be sighing over things he already once sighed about, or he could be moaning about sights or objects that are no longer within reach. It is also important to remember that in Shakespeare’s time, sighing was considered dangerous to one’s health.
But if the while I think on thee (dear friend)
All losses are restored, and sorrows end.
The final couplet represents a volta (or “turn”) in the sonnet’s argument. While the previous 12 lines describe the speaker’s pain, the couplet shows that all of this moaning over the past was worth it because the thought of his “dear friend” can bring him out of the darkness.
