Sonnet 73

Victoria Jensen

IB Senior English Mrs. Malacara 30 November 2012 Word Count: 827

The poem Sonnet 73 is a vivid expression of the poets insecurities about his advancing age. This poem is written by William Shakespeare and has the voice of himself, speaking to a young lover. Throughout the poem Shakespeare mentions himself only three times, in the first, fifth and ninth lines; in other words the start of each of the three quatrains. This emphasizes his anxieties by comparing the rest of the quatrains to himself. The structure of the poem, its metaphors, and imagery create an atmosphere of melancholy and tragedy that highlight his mortality. He is worried about his own mortality and how this would affect the young mans love for him. The structure of the poem is extremely important to the message of Sonnet 73. Written in standard Shakespearean sonnet form, it has three quatrains, and one ending couplet. It takes us on a path of metaphors comparing the speakers age to things which die, each having an equal amount of lines. As each quatrain leads into another the listener can identify the uses of alliteration, and assonance. There are many small instances in the poem of repetitious sounds in areas that most emphasize the idea of death, or the time leading up to it. In line seven, the example of alliteration, by and by black night doth take away clearly brings to attention the said taking away of the night. This represents the ending of his life, or his mortality. In line ten, that on the ashes of his youth doth lie Shakespeare uses the ending of youth and doth to call attention to the death (ashes) of his youth. One of the prevailing literary devices Shakespeare uses in Sonnet 73 is metaphor. It is so powerful because each image expands upon the idea of his aging. The first quatrain uses the imagery of autumn to emphasize the end Shakespeares youth. As autumn is the end of the seasons of life on earth, so is youth being ended. In the second quatrain the time is shortened from a time of season to only a time of day. In the twilight, the sunset fadeth in the west (7), this metaphor is also comparing his youth to twilight, the ending of the day. Finally in the third quatrain, time is shortened yet again, this time to a single fire, or the glowing of such fire (9), which is actually the embers of the flames dying.

Each of these quatrains is about his fading youth, but they are also about the gradual change of his life. Autumn, twilight, and the embers of a fire are precursors to an end. Shakespeare didnt use winter, night or the final end of the fire, he used things beforehand. This symbolizes the progressive change in his life, the ending of youth, but not necessarily the end itself. Its only in the third stanza with the phrase; ashes of his youth is there something final. Throughout the poem, maintaining the theme of the metaphors is imagery. With imagery the listener can connect the ideas of the poem together. For instance, in the first quatrain, Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang (3, 4) is connecting the theme of the poem, ageing and death, to how the poet feels about it. These images are both thermal and kinesthetic, describing Shakespeare as cold, bare, and of late. This gives a definite idea that he does not consider himself in his prime any more, and gives the poem a self-pitying tone. The images in the latter part of the poem; black night(7), Deaths second self(8), ashes of his youth(10), and the deathbed(11) are all about the same thing. Each is describing how the poet sees himself, hence the start of the two quatrains, In me thou seest(5,9). And line twelve, consumed with that which it was nourished by sets it in perspective, it is talking about his deathbed ending because the vitality of his youth is gone. This brings the listener to the couplet of the poem, which finalizes the mood and message. Because Shakespeare did not merely right this poem to himself, but to the young man, whom he loves, one has to assume why he is pointing out his old age and his insecurities dealing with it. Shakespeare is trying to make his lover understand that his fading of age only increases his love for the young man. Line thirteen says, This thou perceives, which makes thy love more strong, where this refers to everything he has mentioned in the first three quatrains. More importantly though, his mortality is a word of warning to the young man, not only about Shakespeares age, but the young mans youth as well. As

seen in the last words, to love that well which thou must leave ere long the young man must appreciate his youth while he can because it will come to an end just like everything else.