Shakespeares Sonnet #73 Essay - 787 Words

Shakespeares Sonnet #73, published in 1609, is written in the Shakespearean or English sonnet style. It consists of three quatrains and one couplet at the end, written in iambic pentameters. Each quatrain has its own rhyme scheme, rhyming in alternating lines. The couplet summarizes the preceding twelve lines. Sonnet 73 appears to contain multiple parallels to death and the person speaking in the poem gives the impression that he is near death and reflecting back upon life. The first quatrain, â€Å"That time of the year thou mayst behold me/ When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang/ Upon those boughs which shake against the cold/ Bare ruin choirs where late the sweet bird sang.† He seems to be comparing his life the unspecified season,†¦show more content†¦Meaning, death will come, without question. He plays upon the sun setting, which in some cultures was a god dying every evening (and he would be reborn every morning). The sun setting could also be regarded as the sun going to sleep, which plays on the last line of the quatrain, quot;Deaths second self, which seals upon rest.quot; This line talks of the eternal sleep, or death. This quatrain suggests a night without the possibility of day, quot;seals upon rest.quot; In the third quatrain, â€Å"In me the glowing of such fire/ That on the ashes of his youth doth lie/ As the deathbed whereon it must expire/ Consuming with that which it was nourished by.† He seems to compare his life to fire, burning bright in youth, when energy and ideas bound forth, but eventually it all turns to ashes, fragments of the passing youth, essentially death. He also makes implications of lying upon the ashes, his deathbed, of days gone by, days when he was young and full of energy. The fire proposes finality, the non-cyclical process that night and the seasons are part of, which Shakespeare has worked towards in the poem. The final couplet, â€Å"This thou percev’st which makes thy love more strong/ To love that well which thou must leave ereShow MoreRelated Essay on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73799 Words   |  4 PagesInterpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 nbsp; Sonnet 73 is a meditation on mortality, and yet it can be interpreted in a number of ways. The first such interpretation is that the author of the poem is speaking to someone else about his own death that will inevitably come in the future. This interpretation has the poem focused on the author, and his focus and concern over himself. This makes him seem very selfish, because we are all going to die sooner or later, and it does not do any goodRead More An Analysis of Shakespeares Sonnet 73 Essay example1241 Words   |  5 PagesAn Analysis of Shakespeares Sonnet 73      Ã‚   Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare is widely read and studied. But what is Shakespeare   trying to say? 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