1
In the first quatrain, the speaker compares aging to late
Sonnet 73
autumn when the leaves have fallen off the trees and the
weather is cold. The church buildings (metaphor for bare
– William Shakespeare
branches) where the choirs once sang are now in ruins and
the birds no longer sing. The speaker, in the second
quatrain compares aging to the dusk when the sun has set
in the west and introduces the darkness of night-time. Night-
time is compared to death’s second self. In the third
quatrain the speaker compares aging to the coals of a fire
that is about to die. He compares how the coals cannot burn
without the ashes, to old age that cannot exist without the
figments of the youth. In the couplet, the speaker advises
that these things must be seen/noted/perceived so that love
can be strengthened by the knowledge that when life is
extinguished, we depart from our loved ones.
Symbolism
Type and Form
The speaker uses sunset and The Couplet
This is a Shakespearean
night to symbolise the end or
sonnet, also known as an The speaker introduces the
death.
Elizabethan sonnet. Like all reader to the importance of
sonnets, it has fourteen lines. It love. He wants the reader to
is divided into 3 quatrains (units see how life is so that they
of four lines) and has a rhyming value their time together.
couplet (a unit of two lines). The He reminds us that we need
rhythm is in iambic pentameter. to love well because we will
The rhyme scheme is abab, have to leave (die) before
cdcd, efef, gg. long.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
In each quatrain the speaker uses a different image
Quatrain 1 In the first quatrain, the speaker
to show the progression of life from youthfulness to
compares his current state to Autumn, a season
old age and death. The following images have been
when the leaves fall from the branches. The
used: In quatrain 1 the tree, quatrain 2 the sunset
branches shake because of the cold wind. This
and quatrain 3 the glowing fire.
means that he is getting older and losing his youth
just like the trees that lose their green leaves. The
church building where the birds once sat on and
sang is now in ruins. The quietness that is caused by
the absence of birds is paralleled to how his life is.
There is quietness that comes with getting old, when
the youthful exuberance no longer exists
Quatrain 2 In this quatrain the speaker compares his
progress towards death as moving from dusk, (after the
sun had set) to the night time. The change in comparison
from a season to a day shows the speed with which aging
affects the body.
Quatrain 3 The third quatrain makes the end that the
speaker talks about very clear, it represents the death that
the speaker has been leading to. In this quatrain the
speaker’s life is compared to a fire that will soon be
extinguished. He refers to both literal death and the
figurative death which signifies the end of his youth.
@Juffrou_Ansie
In the first quatrain, the speaker compares aging to late
Sonnet 73
autumn when the leaves have fallen off the trees and the
weather is cold. The church buildings (metaphor for bare
– William Shakespeare
branches) where the choirs once sang are now in ruins and
the birds no longer sing. The speaker, in the second
quatrain compares aging to the dusk when the sun has set
in the west and introduces the darkness of night-time. Night-
time is compared to death’s second self. In the third
quatrain the speaker compares aging to the coals of a fire
that is about to die. He compares how the coals cannot burn
without the ashes, to old age that cannot exist without the
figments of the youth. In the couplet, the speaker advises
that these things must be seen/noted/perceived so that love
can be strengthened by the knowledge that when life is
extinguished, we depart from our loved ones.
Symbolism
Type and Form
The speaker uses sunset and The Couplet
This is a Shakespearean
night to symbolise the end or
sonnet, also known as an The speaker introduces the
death.
Elizabethan sonnet. Like all reader to the importance of
sonnets, it has fourteen lines. It love. He wants the reader to
is divided into 3 quatrains (units see how life is so that they
of four lines) and has a rhyming value their time together.
couplet (a unit of two lines). The He reminds us that we need
rhythm is in iambic pentameter. to love well because we will
The rhyme scheme is abab, have to leave (die) before
cdcd, efef, gg. long.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
In each quatrain the speaker uses a different image
Quatrain 1 In the first quatrain, the speaker
to show the progression of life from youthfulness to
compares his current state to Autumn, a season
old age and death. The following images have been
when the leaves fall from the branches. The
used: In quatrain 1 the tree, quatrain 2 the sunset
branches shake because of the cold wind. This
and quatrain 3 the glowing fire.
means that he is getting older and losing his youth
just like the trees that lose their green leaves. The
church building where the birds once sat on and
sang is now in ruins. The quietness that is caused by
the absence of birds is paralleled to how his life is.
There is quietness that comes with getting old, when
the youthful exuberance no longer exists
Quatrain 2 In this quatrain the speaker compares his
progress towards death as moving from dusk, (after the
sun had set) to the night time. The change in comparison
from a season to a day shows the speed with which aging
affects the body.
Quatrain 3 The third quatrain makes the end that the
speaker talks about very clear, it represents the death that
the speaker has been leading to. In this quatrain the
speaker’s life is compared to a fire that will soon be
extinguished. He refers to both literal death and the
figurative death which signifies the end of his youth.
@Juffrou_Ansie
