William Shakespeare 's Sonnet 73

In "Sonnet 73", the speaker uses a series of metaphors to characterize what he perceives to be the nature of his old age. This poem is not simply a procession of interchangeable metaphors; it is the story of the speaker slowly coming to grips with the finality of his age and his impermanence in time.

the glowing of such fire that on the ashes of his youth doth lie, as the death-bed whereon it must expire" (9-11). Thus, the narrator is claiming that his youth has died like ashes of a fire and that these ashes will soon consume the fire, that is, his life. Thus, by comparing death to the fall season, twilight, sleep, and a dying fire, the narrator encourages "thou" to love him all the more while he is still

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these “lovers”. After analysis of the content of both the “young man” sonnets and the “dark lady sonnets”, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress.

This poem is like an extended metaphor because it refers to death as being dark like the night time

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.

Since its introduction in the 1530s, nearly every major British and American poet has made use of the form" (Sonnet xxi). In Versification, James McAuley defines that the sonnet is, "In the strict sense, a fourteen-line poem usually in iambic pentameters. The Italian or petrachan type, consists of an octet, usually rhymed cdecde or in some permutation of these. The English sonnet type consists of three quatrains plus a concluding couplet, rhymed variously, the Shakespearian form being abab cdcd efef gg. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century use, the term was also loosely applied to any lyric poem, especially a love-poem, as in [John] Donne's (1572-1631) Songs and Sonnets" (82).

This final metaphor is of death, and a reminder that all things must end. Shakespeare compares a flame dancing on the "ashes of his youth" to that of a person lying on his deathbed, where both "must expire".

He completed 154 sonnets consisting of 14 lines with ten syllables and a certain rhyme scheme. Thus developing the sonnet people know today as the “Shakespearean Sonnet.” To conclude, Shakespeare’s becomes clearer through the research and understanding of his significant influence on the world

The lover is described as "more temperate" in line 2 and therefore less prone to vary between extremes.

Both Spenser 's Sonnet 75 and Shakespeare 's Sonnet 19 similarly claim to bestow immortality upon the beloved. Despite similar themes, however, these sonnets contrast sharply. Spenser 's sonnet ostensibly reports a conversation between the poet and his beloved, whereas Shakespeare 's sonnet directly addresses personified time, and shows the greater dramatic flair.

The Italian sonnet was created by a man named Petrarch in the 14th century. This sonnet is made up of an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines) adding up to the sonnets grand total of 14 lines. A Volta, or dramatic change in the emotion, comes after the octave. The theme of the Petrarchan sonnet can generally be found within the ending sestet. Two centuries later a new type of sonnet was born. The Shakespearean sonnet was created by none other than the late William Shakespeare. The English sonnet is made up of three quatrains (4 lines) and an ending couplet (2 lines) creating the iconic 14 lines. The Volta comes after the 3rd quatrain leaving the couplet as the space for the poems theme. Both

Shakespeare’s sonnet 60 expresses the inevitable end that comes with time and uses this dark truth to express his hopefulness that his poetry will carry his beloved’s beauty and worth into the future in some way so that it may never die. This love poem is, as all sonnets are, fourteen lines. Three quatrains form these fourteen lines, and each quatrain consists of two lines. Furthermore, the last two lines that follow these quatrains are known as the couplet. This sonnet has the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, as most Shakespearean sonnets follow. In each of the three quatrains, Shakespeare discusses a different idea. In this particular sonnet, the idea is how time continues to pass on, causing everything to die. The couplet connects these ideas to one central theme, this theme being Shakespeare’s hope for the beauty of his beloved’s immortality through his poetry’s continuation into future times.

The next quatrain lapses into a more mundane metaphor. The seeming proximity of sleep and death has long been a subject of English poetry. One noteworthy aspect of the metaphor here, though, is that Shakespeare doesn't use death to meditate on the melancholy aspect of sleep, but uses sleep to speculate on the "restful" aspect of death. The image which opens the quatrain, the sunset, is standard; his life is at the point of fading into darkness. But the sleep which night brings is not presented too fearfully here, because night brings "Death's second self that seals up all in

     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.

At the time this poem was written, time, in the eyes of the people, seemed to move toward a single event, the last judgement (Mary). The last judgment is a belief in the Christian faith that all souls will face a day of judgement for their sins. The first quatrain discusses the concept of time wearing on in conjunction with the negative effects of death and decay (Mary). Although time itself cannot be physically manipulated, there is still an ever-present hope burning inside humans to control time. Ultimately, humans long to live forever but as reality dictates, all living things must die. Shakespeare works around this reality by channeling that hope into the immortality of literary works specifically poetry. This message is conveyed early in the poem with the lines, “Nor marble nor the gilded monuments / Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme” (1-2). “This powerful rhyme” (2), is a reference to the poem itself and Shakespeare compares its endurance to that of monuments and grave stones (Almedia). These lines indicate the strength in the poetry itself as monuments and grave stones are items that are considered to exist for a time close to eternity. The discussion of time is