Sonnet 73

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Sonnet 73 in the 1609 Quarto
Q1 Q2 Q3 C That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou see’st the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west; Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire, That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire, Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by. This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long. 4 8 12 14 —William Shakespeare

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Q2



Q3



C

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

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8



12

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Sonnet 73, one of the most famous of William Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, focuses upon the theme of old age, with each of the three quatrains encompassing a metaphor. The sonnet is pensive in tone, and although it is written to a young friend (See: Fair Youth), it is wholly introspective until the final couplet, which finally turns to the person who is addressed (the "thou" in line one).

Joseph Kau suggests that Samuel Daniel had a fair amount of influence on this sonnet and that Shakespeare's immediate source of the impresa, or motto, "Qua me alit me extinguit" came from Geoffrey Whitney's A Choice of Emblems (London, 1586)

Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 mainly focuses on the use of metaphor to aid his audience in thoroughly understanding the meaning of each of the three quatrains. Richard B. Hovey proposes that "in Sonnet 73 the poet-narrator compares his state with three things: autumn, the passing of day, and the burning out of a fire. To each of these comparisons Shakespeare devotes a quatrain, a quatrain which develops a metaphor". Therefore, although believed to be one of Shakespeare's well-known sonnets, Sonnet 73 has had numerous comments, with different perspectives on its significance, as well as its addressee.

Barbara Estermann discusses William Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 in relation to the beginning of the Renaissance. She argues that the speaker of Sonnet 73 is comparing himself to the universe through his transition from "the physical act of aging to his final act of dying, and then to his death". Esterman clarifies that throughout the three quatrains of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, the speaker "demonstrates man's relationship to the cosmos and the parallel properties which ultimately reveal his humanity and his link to his to the universe. Shakespeare thus compares the fading of his youth through the three elements of the universe: the fading of life, the fading of the light, and the dying of the fire".