Sonnet 73
Another Shakespearean Sonnet
Sonnet 73
1st Quatrain
Year - Fall
2nd Quatrain Day Twilight
3rd Quatrain
Fire - Coals
“This” is the
fact that he
is old…
Notice how line 1
flows into line 2 with
no pause from
punctuation. This is
called enjambment.
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
The rhymed
couplet at the
end is a
paradox, a
puzzling
statement that
is somehow still
true.
•This poem uses what is known
as “the natural metaphor”
•In this extended metaphor,
each stage of life is compared
to different stages within the
cycles of nature and time.
Sonnet 73
Q1
Q2
Q3
The speaker is
Part of life already
lived
The part of life he
is in…
in the fall of his life
the spring and summer
Approaching death
in the twilight of the day
the morning and noon
Approaching death
In the glowing coals
The ashes of youth
His fire is about to
burn out
Year
Time is rapidly
shortening. This
guy is OLD!!!
Day
Hour
His beloved should
perceive, or notice
that their time is
running out. Is the
person he’s writing
to also old?
“The Sound of the Sea”
By Longfellow
•How will this sonnet be different form the
Shakespearean sonnets?
•How many line will it have?
•How many syllables per line?
•How are the stanzas arranged?
•What is the rhyme scheme?
The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,
And round the pebbly beaches far and wide
I heard the first wave of the rising tide
Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep;
A voice out of the silence of the deep,
A sound mysteriously multiplied
As of a cataract from the mountain's side,
Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep.
So comes to us at times, from the unknown
And inaccessible solitudes of being,
The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul;
And inspirations, that we deem our own,
Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing
Of things beyond our reason or control.