William Shakespeare: Sonnet 73?

Question

SONNET 73
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 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
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

To be honest. I absolutely horrendous at analyzing poetry. Can you help? =D

I need to answers these questions. Yes, I have worked on them. And no, I am not going to take an answer from someone as my own. I just desperately need help.

1)Major metaphors and symbolism-discuss importance
2)Where is the turn and what is it about?
3)How does the rhyme scheme influence the poem's meaning?
4)5 major themes and how it relates to other works (like his other sonnets)
5)Tone and mood, discuss the lines that reveal them

Please Help! I have tried and tried. Also, I have answered these but I do not know if I am on the right track. I know these are fairly simple to a lot of you. But seriously, even my English teacher can agree that I suck at analyzing poetry.

Thanks Again!

Answer 1

1)Major metaphors and symbolism-discuss importance
i) Season (autumn)
ii) Day (twilight)
iii) Part of day (fire)

The imagery begins as visual; yellow, sunset, glowing and one by one, they are destroyed. The couplet has no imagery - as if all senses have been destroyed. Time is running out and that is what the speaker is telling the Fair Youth. He should love well, intensely, because the poet/speaker is fast aging or may not live long. Notice season is longer than day and autumn is followed by winter when everything metaphorically dies. Same idea: twilight is followed by night and sleep, "death's second self." Glowing fire soon becomes ash. Hence, the speaker is not yet gone but is about to.

2)Where is the turn and what is it about?
I wonder what you mean here but every quatrain addresses specific sinister diminution of time. Wherever there's a fullstop in your poem version, that marks the end of one four-line stanza (quatrain) except the couplet (last two lines.

3)How does the rhyme scheme influence the poem's meaning?
The rhyme scheme is abab;cdcd;efef;gg. The couplet is rhymed and it sums up the rest of the stanzas by directly offering the Fair Youth the statement: You see how I am like the autumn before winter, the twilight before darkness, the glow of fire before ashes, hence you should love me strongly because I will soon be gone!!

4) 5 major themes and how it relates to other works (like his other sonnets)
Themes explored in similar sonnets include:
- beauty of the loved one
- destructive power of time, sonnet Number 55
- force of love and friendhip
-despair about the absence of a loved one
- reaction toward the young man's coldness

5)Tone and mood, discuss the lines that reveal them

Tone: self-pity
Mood: pathetic

good luck

Answer 2

This sonnet is of Shakesperean form, lyrical poetry: consists of three quatrains followed by a couplet (look at the last word in each line.....behold, hang, cold, sang, day, west, away, rest, fire, lie, expire, by= the 5 quatrains which means every other last word ryhmes.......Then the last two...strong, long= the couplet which are the last two rhyming lines).

The main metaphor's are when he says things (descriptively) that are LIKE what he really means: "That time of year...when yellow leaves" ......etc = he compares the autumn time with his own autumn years of life...he is mature, has experienced life and now feels his days are near an end, also, after a joyful life ...when "Bare ruined choirs...(the empty branches) where late the sweet birds sang". "As after sunset fadeth in the west, ......night doth take away...Death's second self, that seals up all in rest" = night cloaks like death but is not death (death's second self = not really death but another layer of night that obscures like death might). "In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire" ( regardless, his love knows and sees his vitality despite his suggested aging appearance),
"That on the ashes of his youth doth lie" (apparent death of his youth) ."As on the death-bed whereon it must expire" (one day he shall die), "Consumed......nourished by" (life has been consumed like wood in a fire would be consumed when the wood was young and strong in a tree once as he once was young and vital), "This thou perceivest......more strong" (the lover who knows him saw and loved him anyway through his life) "To love that well which thou must leave ere long" (to love him well even though they shall be eventually separated).

The turns..I am not so familiar with this word...may perhaps be the separation between the metaphors;
that time of year
when the description of the autumn trees
becomes twilight and the end of the day
then turns to night
like death
encloses everything
the glowing fire (alive)
on ashes of his youth
lies as the death- bed..expire
consumed (ate the healthy life) that it was nourished by
so seeing this...makes love strong
to love that well
must leave ere long (before long will be gone).

Answer 3

Make sure you understand the main premise of the poem: the speaker is reaching the end (the "twilight") of his life, his much-younger beloved recognizes this. Thus their love is more intense, more urgent, because they know that time is running out.

In the first quatrain, the speaker compares himself to a tree in autumn - he is practically leafless (perhaps he is balding), he is bare, he is ruined/spoiled/past his expiration date. Birds sang there once in the spring (perhaps referring to his gift with poetry), but the year is almost over and the tree is cold and bare now.

In the second quatrain, he compares himself to a sunset. The day is almost over and night is coming quickly. Sleep ("death's second self") is a precursor to the imminence of his actual death.

In the third quatrain, he compares himself to a dying fire, on the embers of his youth and eating up all the things that once nourished him - love, art, etc. The fire of his life, his talent, his passion, all of it is going out and will soon be dead.

But the final couplet convolutes these hopeless, depressed images. The speaker still has his beloved, who recognizes that his life is almost over and yet remains at his side. Their love is truer and more pure because they know that soon it will be gone. Perhaps this makes them appreciate the time that they do have left, together.

Reading the poem through with these images in mind, see if you can cull together the answers to your questions.

Answer 4

1-yellow leaves[fall, just before winter=end of life]
bare ruined choirs[leafless limbs were birds sang=
twilight[end of day=end of life] sunset=the same
the TURN=black night[end of life]
ashes of youth [a part of life that has already been consumed]
consumed with that which is nourished by day[memories that he has relished in later life: these make his love more cherished]
2-black night is the turn: poem moves from his present state to his future state.
3-one, two,one , two ryme scheme:??no idea