Help me please?

Question

I have to write a literary essay on Shakespeares use of metaphors in developing the comparison between aging and nature in "That time of year..." There are 3 specific metaphors I need to identify, but I am not sure where the metaphors are. Can you please help me identify those to I can write my paper.
Here is the poem:

That time of year

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 seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadetn 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 seeest 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:

Answer 1

Oh, boy. This reminds me of a college class. Because Shakespeare doesn't come right out and say, "I am such and such," you are really looking for sort of implied metaphors. The first answerer did a heroic job attempting this. I would say the following.
1. I am autumn (implied metaphor) - the lines which support this are "yellow leaves...none, or few, do hang" and "boughs which shake against the cold" and the fact that the songbirds have flown away for the winter. "Bare ruin'd choirs" is sort of the summing up of how bare trees look without leaves or birds. So you can either say the speaker is autumn or the signs of autumn, including the "bare ruin'd choirs."
2. I am twilight - the lines which support this include the next few lines from "In me thou seest the twilight" to "seals up all in rest." The metaphor is saying his life is running out like the light of day is running out when you get to twilight after sunset, before darkness (death) takes over, "death's second self" like death's alter ego - or twilight/night.
3. I am a funeral pyre/fire about to burn out. I am sort of guessing on this one, but when it says there are "ashes of his youth" it may only be another way to say that is his life is almost used up or burned up, or because it's so close to "death-bed" it may be referring to a funeral pyre. I don't remember who this poem refers to. I think funeral pyres were used to burn the bodies of important people in some ancient cultures, or if they had died of a contagious disease, or if in battle they didn't want a leader's enemies to desecrate the body. I know in Native American cultures this was part of their religion, but since Shakespeare didn't really write about Native Americans I would say this is stretching it. Probably you are safe to say "I am a fire about to burn out with just ashes left." It sounds like this is a December-May romance, but I'm not sure who the speaker is referring to. The last 2 lines in the couplet seem to indicate that the speaker is pretty old and is referring to someone young who loves him in spite of time running out.
Again, this is just my opinion, but hope it helps.

Answer 2

i'm just trying to help you out, these might not be right:

"death's second self.... in me thou seeest the glowing of such fire

"death-bed whereon it must expire

and maybe "bare ruin'd choirs... birds sang