Jess Grable
Pd. 5
A.Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare
B.This sonnet by William Shakespeare is about a man who is dying, and is losing his
love. He compares himself to visions that the reader might relate to death to show that
he is slowly running out of time. Due to his death, the person he loves and himself are
experiencing that their love for each other is in fact growing stronger. The reader can
relate to this, because we tend to have a stronger love for what we’re going to lose.
C.
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 ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang
The narrator is comparing himself to a scene of late fall/early winter, when all the trees
are dying.
In me thou seest 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
The narrator is describing the day fading into night, and is comparing himself to the
darkness of night.
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.
The narrator compares himself to a fire that is being destroyed and choked off in this
quatrain.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
The narrator’s death causes his love to be much stronger.
D.Literary Devices
a.Imagery
i.“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.”
ii.The imagery in this poem shows that the narrator is dying. The three quatrains use
imagery to describe progressively shorter “deaths.” This shows the reader that the
narrator is running out of time.
b.Metaphor
i.Quotes
1.“That time of year thou mayst in me behold...”
2.“In me thou seest the twilight of such day...”
3.“In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire...”
ii.The metaphors are used to compare the narrator to a scene of death, showing the
reader that he himself is dying.
E.The tone of this sonnet is depressed, but hopeful. The narrator is dying, and that is
always a very upsetting subject. However, knowing that his time is short, his feelings
for the woman he loves are much stronger, as are her’s for him. This makes the poem
seem more hopeful.
F.The theme in this poem is that we all tend to love most those things which we know
we are going to lose. The narrator is obviously going to die soon, and he is going to
lose the person he loves because of this. Their love for each other is stronger, though,
because they know that their time is short.
G.Sources
a.Mabillard, Amanda. An Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73. Shakespeare Online.
2000. 11/29/2012. Web. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/73detail.html >
"Sonnet 73 Study Guide." About.com Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
<http://shakespeare.about.com/od/studyguides/a/Sonnet-73-Study-Guide.htm>