William Shakespeare

1
William Shakespeare

• Sonnet 73

2
What is the poet saying?

• Quatrain 1
• That time of year thou mayst in me beholdWhen
  yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon
  those boughs which shake against the cold,Bare
  ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
  (1-4)

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Quatrain 1

• The poet presents his first metaphor.
• That time of year
• Fall
• Fall is meant to represent death.

4
Quatrain 1

• Death Imagery and Diction
• Yellow leaves
• None are hanging
• Bare branches on trees
• Cold
• No birds

5
Quatrain 2

• In me thou seest the twilight of such dayAs
  after sunset fadeth in the west,Which by and by
  black night doth take away,Deaths second self,
  that seals up all in rest. (5-8)

6
Quatrain 2

• The poet presents his second metaphor.
• the twilight of such day
• End of the day
• The end of the day is meant to represent death

7
Quatrain 2

• Death imagery and Diction
• Twilight
• Sunset
• Fadeth
• West
• Black night

8
Quatrain 3

• In me thou seest the glowing of such
  fire,That on the ashes of his youth doth lieAs
  the deathbed whereon it must expire,Consumed
  with that which it was nourished by. (9-12)

9
Quatrain 3

• The poet presents his third metaphor
• glowing of such a fire
• A fire is dying out
• The glowing fire is meant to represent death

10
Quatrain 3

• Death Imagery and Diction
• ashes of his youth
• Deathbed
• Expire
• Consumed
• Repetition
• The beginning of line 9 is the same as the
  beginning of line 5.
• Parallel Structure

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Couplet

• This thou perceives, which makes thy love more
  strong,To love that well which thou must leave
  ere long. (13-14)
• Even though everyone knows the speaker will
  eventually die, he appreciates that his friend
  stays by his side and loves him.

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How Does He Go About Saying it?

• Poetic Devices
• Shakespearean Sonnet
• Rhyme Scheme
• abab cdcd efef gg
• 3 quatrains and 1 couplet

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Meter

• ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  ? ?
• That time of year thou mayst in me behold
• Iambic Pentameter

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Nature Imagery

• Fall
• When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang (2)
• boughs which shake against the cold (3)
• Bare ruined choirs (4)
• Fall imagery suggests the coming of death
• Fall leads to winter

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Death Imagery

• twilight (5)
• sunset (6)
• fadeth (6)
• west (6)
• black night (7)
• All the images suggest the end of the day
• The death of the day

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Metaphor

• Each quatrain discusses a metaphor for death
• Quatrain 1
• Compares death to fall
• Quatrain 2
• Compares death to the end of a day
• Quatrain 3
• Compares death to a dying fire

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Tone

• Sad

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Theme

• Death?
• Love?