The first definition of "chronicle" in the Oxford English Dictionary is "A detailed and continuous register of events in order of time; a historical record, esp. one in which the facts are narrated without philosophic treatment, or any attempt at literary style." Though a chronicle is usually without literary style, the sonnet's chronicle is full of beauty, rhyme, and praise. The OED further notes the figurative use of chronicle, which may apply here, too. Shakespeare's Henry IV describes elders as "time's doting chronicles."

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

caesura

stocks and stones: idols made of wood or rock; cf. Jeremiah 2:26-27: "As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, | Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us." See also Wisdom of Solomon 14:21: "And this was an occasion to deceive the world: for men, serving either calamity or tyranny, did ascribe unto stones and stocks the incommunicable name"; and Milton, Sonnet 18, "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont": "When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones" (4).

The first quatrain establishes the exposition of the play's plot structure.