Thesis
Published in 1609, William Shakespeare’s Sonnet #73 is written in English sonnet style or Shakespearian style. Written in Iambic pentameters, it contains three quatrains and one couplet towards the end (Brandt, 2017). Every quatrain has a rhyme scheme in alternating lines. Sonnet #73 gives the reader an impression of the writers near death and a reflection of his life back. The poem contains multiples of parallels to death. In the first quatrain, the writer compares his life with an unspecified season which can either be winter or autumn. In the second Quatrain, Shakespeare highlights how death comes like night, quiet and dark, just like a thief stealing when people are asleep. In the third quatrain, Shakespeare likens his desire with that of a young man (Wan, 2018). The writer believes that he will soon die and that he will never see the young man again as his love for youthfulness intensifies. The speaker uses a series of metaphors, images, rhymes and a theme to characterize his perception of the nature of his old age.
In most of William Shakespeare’s sonnets, he focuses on love, tragedy, and death. The main theme addressed in Sonnet #73 is death, along with the signs of aging. Whether he is the subject matter or the observer in the poem, Shakespeare is expressing everything as a subject. The observer in the poem concludes that he sees the light, late fall, and a dying fire. This indicates that the subject is getting old and that he would soon leave them. The sonnet shows the agony of the speaker towards death and the effective way of coping with it. In the last quatrain, he portrays how time is not something measurable but a qualitative entity. Time seems to turn to a glowing fire that burns throughout his life (Wan, 2018). Therefore, death becomes a part of one’s life since it is a continual process.
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The speaker in the sonnet never tells the readers his particular residence. In this sense, it does have a different lateral setting. The speaker takes the reader’s mind to several distinct places. In the first quatrain, there is a tree facing down, and winter is approaching, ‘Upon those boughs which shake against the cold. In quatrain two, the line ‘As after sunset fadeth in the west,’ shows that the lateral setting is the countryside with the reader’s focus being directed towards the horizon where the last light from the sun sets (Wan, 2018). In the last quatrain the writer brings the readers back indoors where there are the last embers of a dying fire, ‘In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire that on ashes of his youth doth lie,’ (Shakespeare, 1996) The sonnet gives the readers some clues but not specifics of where the event is taking place.
The writer’s use of different lateral settings suggests that the reader is about to discover different seasons of life that he is in which include Autumn, Spring, Summer or Winter. These symbolize the youth, prime adulthood, elder years or his final years. The fifth line ‘In me, thou see’st the twilight of such day,’ (Shakespeare, 1996) signifies his impending death as the downside of life which was slipping towards the end (Brandt, 2018). ‘The yellow leaves, or none; that is cold and that the birds have left,’ signifies the late autumn. This is later followed by the symbolism of the writers later years then death.
The mood set in the poem is gloomy and pensive. Shakespeare shows his anticipation of how ravages of time will doom and mark his old age in the coming time. The poet’s depressing thought is lightened by his faith in the restorative power of love. With his aging body, the writer discovers that his friend’s love is going to grow stronger. His utter frustration upon life echoes the poet’s mood of frustration. A start but sincere tone seems to dominate the poem, and the poet is also intimate to his heart (Brandt, 2018). The use of metaphors and images used in the poem, are some of the elements are used to show the pensive mood narrated through his final stages of life which is sad, reflective and mournful.
The poem’s title is sonnet #73 — one of the 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare. The title does not have much significance to the content of the poem. The poem talks about the writers aging life and how he is mournful about his coming death. He also expresses, the love for his friend growing stronger as he approaches his death bed. He doesn’t have much more time to see through life (Wan, 2018). The most useful information about the title of the poem is that it informs the reader on the structure of the poem which follows the sonnet style. As such the poem’s title is not of much significance to the content of the poem.
Some of the major literal devices and figures of speech used in the poem include personification, imagery, metaphors, symbolism, and repetition. From lines 5 to 8 personification has been used heavily specifically in line 8 — the night as been personified by “taking away’’ the sun (Shakespeare, 1996). Shakespeare has used the night to personify death as someone who takes away to people or things. He also uses personification about dying out and the process of fire as human life. The writer uses imagery in describing the change of autumn trees that will soon become naked because of the frigid cold winter (Wan, 2018). This communicates the theme of death which is marked by the changing leaves.
The transition of the seasons is descriptive metaphors used by the poem to describe the shortness of life leading to his death. Shakespeare also uses a metaphor to show the poet’s wellbeing and feelings. He compares his present state to the bare branches during winter. The effective use of symbols from line 1 to 4 enables the reader to understand the theme in the poem. The symbol of autumn and the day’s ends brings out the beauty of death, which is usually seen as sad (Brandt, 2017). There is also repetition in lines 1, 5 and nine used to shows the writer's point of view towards death.
The 14-line poem has a particular way of organizing rhymes and uses the iambic parameter metric-wise. Shakespeare’s brand of the sonnet has four major sections rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The rhymes in the poem support the poem’s meaning because they show how the poet is working on different ideas to bring out the meaning of the poem. The quatrains have different ideas with all variations on the central theme of the poem. In the first line, the writer mixes up things by messing up with his meter (Wan, 2018). This helps to bring out the thematic connection between aging and love.
The identity of the narrator in Sonnet #73 is quite clear. He is portrayed as an old, hopeless and poor man, who is on the verge of his death. The narrator feels that he not completely old yet but his youthful life is far gone. The imagery of the sunset shows that the old man is approaching death (Brandt, 2017). The author uses symbols and images to describe the life of the narrator in the poem. In each quatrain, the writer uses symbols and images to show the transition of the aging man up to his final blow, which is death.
The narrator’s attitude revolves around the idea of death and old age. He compares himself to fire that is soon to be extinguished. The attitude of the narrator in the poem is mournful because of his near death. He uses metaphors as a way of reflecting his final stages of life in a reflective and sad tone (Brandt, 2018). His attitude towards the subject is also reflected as he addresses the twilight of his life ‘after the sun fadeth in the west,’ (Shakespeare, 1996) which is ultimately his death.
References
Shakespeare, W. (1996). The sonnets,26 . Cambridge University Press.
Brandt, P. A. (2017). Metaphors and Meaning in Shakespeare's Sonnet 73. In The Shakespearean International Yearbook (pp. 123-132). Routledge.
Wan, Y. (2018, December). Time: A Major Thematic Study of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. In 2018 8th International Conference on Management, Education and Information (MEICI 2018) . Atlantis Press.
