Eroticism and Mortality in Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 Essay

Summary This sonnet attempts to explain the nature of time as it passes, and as it acts on human life. In the first quatrain, the

In the first quatrain, the speaker contrasts his age is like a "time of year,": late autumn, when the "yellow leaves" have almost completely fallen from the trees and the boughs "shake against the cold." Those metaphors clearly indicate that winter, which usually symbolizes the loneliness and desolation, is coming. Here the reader would easily observe the similarity between the season and the speaker's age. Since winter is usually

The first stanza concludes by stating, “The carriage held but just ourselves/And Immortality” (Lines 3-4). These lines are used to acknowledge that there is a difference between death and time, because while they work in unison they still are not one and the same. Time has control over our lives during both mortality and

In “Sonnet II,” by Millay, the speaker describes how time has gone on and she still misses her former boyfriend. Similar to that, in “Sonnet 73,” by Shakespeare, the speaker describes how time has gone on, taking his youth away. Overall, through the use of gloomy imagery and a dreary tone, Shakespeare and Millay present time’s negative effects on a person, within their dismal sonnets.

       The theme, in Sonnet 73, is the poet's aging. Each quatrain develops an image of lateness, of approaching extinction - of a season, of a day, and of a fire, but they also apply to a life (Abrams et al. 867). The poet compares his age to three images through the quatrains: autumn, the dying of the year (first quatrain); the dying of the fire (third quatrain). The first line draws a picture of himself, "in me," and in a certain time, "That time of year," of his life (surely, he is old now). We can see that the

For example, the narrator pleads, “Do not go gentle into that good night / Old age should burn and rave at close of day” (1433). This second line right away changes the tone of the poem, as it went from the first line sounding as if it was a demand to not fall asleep, to a plea to stay alive. As I continue “the close of day” and “night” draw parallels to death as the narrator is begging to someone as they come closer to death. Thomas believes that instead of resigning to death, instead of waiting for time to run out, you are to “burn and rave” or go out with a bang. The second stanza refers back to what I touched on earlier as Thomas wants an alternative to go against a slow, natural death. “Though wise men at their end know dark is right / Because their words had forked no lightning they / Do not go gentle into that good night” (1433). As a reader, I believe this holds true, as I have never been on the brink of death but I have the thought of what if I were to die right now? Would I be satisfied with what I accomplished and the way I went out? The first line in that stanza explains that, even though men know that “dark” (death) is “right” (natural), if they may feel like they made no impact on society, or didn’t “fork any lightning” they do not give in to death, they fight and try to make what they feel is right before they

The Poem begins with a personification of death as "kindly" (3). By doing this, the speaker introduces a portrayal on death that might have conflictions. Most of the times, death has a negative connotation. Whether it is an inevitable or tragic view, it opposes to what is seen in the poem. The speaker accepts death as a friendly invitation when the time is right, rather than something that is bound to happen. The speaker then joins immortality, personified as a passenger in a carriage. Immortality simply cannot be a passenger as it is a non-living thing. The reasoning for this could be that immortality ties together the link between the speaker and death, ultimately introducing the voyage to come. The first stanza sets a precedent of a meter to follow throughout most of the poem. The first line contains eight

In “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” Dylan Thomas amplifies the human spirit by the usage symbolism and metaphors to reveal internal struggles that we may face in life, as well as the loss of a loved one, something that we all can relate to. While trying to encourage his father to fight for his last moments in life, the poet uses the “night” as a symbol for death. Another symbol that is used is the word “gentle” and “Old,” these words give meaning that the old should not go so easily into death. “Rage” and “Burn” are also used, suggesting that the internal flames of the dying should rage and burn like a wild fire till the end of the dying light, or in this case, his father’s last moments.

Unlike many believe, a poem is not defined or restrained by rules of structure for poetry is more than a simple structure or rhyme patter of those are just used to give huge meaning and not necessary to portray what the authors are seeing in their mind. Richard Wilbur’s poem, “Year’s End,” is rich in imagery and symbolism that gives us a vivid image of different ways to look at death. Wilbur depicts how the volcanic eruption as if it were a gentle snow fall and the fate of the people Pompeii as a tender sleep and nothing more. With these images, Wilbur gives us imagery that give depth, segments of time that are frozen the moment between life and death. Wilbur also introduces the symbolic meaning of “cold” and its connection to the end of life

Poets and authors alike evoke emotion and pictures from one single word. The imagery and thoughts put into the readers’ heads by these different writers are the base of one’s creativity and imagination while reading the author’s work of art. William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known poets of all time that is able to elicit these emotions from the reader to allow the reader to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to accomplish with his poems. Shakespeare keeps his audience entertained with a whopping 154 sonnets, each having a different meaning and imagery associated with it. Sonnet 18, “[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day]”, and Sonnet 55, “[Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments]”, are both one of Shakespeare’s most famous works. Shakespeare uses these sonnets to explore the powerful relationship between humanity, art, and time.

In this sonnet, Shakespeare uses metaphor to create a vivid image in the reader's mind of the passage of time, old age, and death by describing the Fall season, the end of a day, and the burning out of a flame.

The speaker uses figurative language throughout the poem as metaphors. A few of the metaphors are repeated throughout the poem to emphasize the need to fight against death. Thomas shows this in the emphasis on the “ night “ and to not to “ go gentle” into it. The “ night” symbolizes death and saying “ do not go gentle”

The nature of the metaphors with which the lyrical subject of the sonnet presents the nature of our world are grim and

     The sonnet, being one of the most traditional and recognized forms of poetry, has been used and altered in many time periods by writers to convey different messages to the audience. The strict constraints of the form have often been used to parallel the subject in the poem. Many times, the first three quatrains introduce the subject and build on one another, showing progression in the poem. The final couplet brings closure to the poem by bringing the main ideas together. On other occasions, the couplet makes a statement of irony or refutes the main idea with a counter statement. It leaves the reader with a last impression of what the author is trying to say.

During the Renaissance period, most poets were writing love poems about their lovers/mistresses. The poets of this time often compared love to high, unrealistic, and unattainable beauty. Shakespeare, in his sonnet 18, continues the tradition of his time by comparing the speakers' love/mistress to the summer time of the year. It is during this time of the year that the flowers and the nature that surround them are at there peak for beauty. The theme of the poem is to show the speakers true interpretation of beauty. Beauties worst enemy is time and although beauty might fade it can still live on through a person's memory or words of a poem. The speaker realizes that beauty, like the subject of the poem, will remain perfect not in the