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Sure, we all are doing well... Be careful, we must stay fit and shouldn't fall ill getting our studies affected. We shall eat and drink healthy, exercise regularly, and won't avoid our domestic and social responsibilities. And whatever time we get for ourselves at the end of the day, we must study hard for most of the time, so that we learn to think... and learn. We simply cannot afford to stop thinking, for we are learners, and we are the chosen ones who got the scope to learn... 

Let's learn to think first...

Sonnet 73 (LXXIII), by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Maybe, by now, you have already been introduced to William Shakespeare, the great. Most likely, you have watched some cinematic versions of his dramas. You might also have watched his dramas being enacted on stage. And probably you also got the chance to read one or two of his poems as well. What about this one?

Sonnet 73 (LXXIII), by William Shakespeare

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.

Let's Read Together

If this is a new one for you, you are welcome to join us as we intend to read this poem together, right now. If you have already read this earlier, your previous reading might be quite helpful for us. Would you care to join us.

I know that you already have gone through the text at least for once as you have scrolled down to this line. How about listening to the poem here just once to check if this wonderful reading helps you to comprehend the text better?

Did it work? How about reading the poem once again now, slowly, bit by bit?

Lines 1-4

That time of year thou (you) mayst (may) in me behold (see)

So, we have a speaker here, addressing someone, or some people, right? But whom is the speaker speaking to? Us, the readers?

Do you find the line difficult to comprehend? It’s probably due to the inverted syntactic structure. Let’s straighten it up:

Thou mayst behold that time of year in me

I’m sure you get the meaning now without much ado. But what’s time the speaker is referring to?

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.

Do you get the ‘time’? It’s that time in the late autumn or early winter when the trees  shed their leaves, and are left only with a few, if not none, clinging to the branches/boughs that shake against the cold wind. It’s that time when the sweet birds sang late, towards the end, when the choirs were all left bare and abandoned in ruins.

I’m sure that you didn’t overlook the inversion in the 4^th line just because it is not that tough to comprehend, right? And now when you have been able to understand the meaning of the line on your own, it's time for you note its importance. If the structure of this clause was not inverted the way it has been done, do you think the 4th line would have rhymed with the second line? Yes, that's how syntax in verses gets inverted to address the metrical purposes of the text. Apart from this reason, inversions are also used to foreground or highlight  different aspects in an argument.

But where to such comparisons are leading? Old age? Age of decay and abandonment? How might this help the speaker to build up his argument? What is it that the speaker is trying to say after all?

Lines 5-8

In me thou see'st (see) the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth (fades) in the west,

Which by and by  black night doth (does) take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

Do you find any shift in the pattern of the argument? Nothing as such, right? The listener(s) now see(s), in the speaker, the twilight of such a day that fades into the black night after the sun sets in the west and sleep, and death’s second self, or alter ego, or sleep puts all in rest to sleep. Have you noticed that the probability hinted in the very first line is dropped by now? Can you guess why? Do you feel that the speaker is sounding more confident in pursuing the listener(s) now?

Lines 9-12

In me thou see'st (see) the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth (does) lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire,

Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.

Are you still wondering the way the speaker is still continuing the same way to build up his argument? But still, we have again a new metaphor being used, right? – the metaphor of a dying fire?

The listener(s) now see(s), in the speaker, the glowing of such a fire that now is on the verge of dying, the flames buried under the ash. What once had been the sustenance of the fire, the fuel, now burnt to ashes do engulf the flame and choke the fire. Isn’t the observation amazingly wonderful? But what’s the purpose?

Lines 13-14

This thou perceiv'st (perceive/understand), which makes thy (your) love more strong,

 To love that well which thou must leave ere (before) long .

Do you get the argument now? The listener, when perceives this, would love the speaker more for s/he would realise that the speaker wouldn’t be there to be loved in person for long. Isn’t the speaker cunning and manipulative enough to pursue the listener, to love him/her more?

Reading the Text as a Whole

The Drama

So, now let’s approach to connote the text as a whole. Would you like to call this a monologue, as we have a speaker addressing some silent listener? Surely the organic character of the speaker, cunningly persuasive, and the silent listener add to the dramatic nature of the text, right?

Carpe Diem

Does it seem to you that some mature aged person is pursuing his or her beloved to love more just because the life remaining is too short? It’s the carpe diem tradition where emphasis is placed upon seizing the day before it passes into the night.

An Amorous Poem

It then seems to be an amorous poem, right?- an ardent love poem? Hence, you might consider that here we have only one listener, not more than the speaker’s beloved, if you please. There is though no way to get the gender identity of the characters guessed from the text. Is it even necessary to get the gender identities revealed? Do you have any good reason?

The Structure

The structure of the poem is rather more important. It’s this very structure that makes the argument, the pursuit of the speaker, so syllogistic, logical, and probably quite effective as well. You must have noted that the poem is a 14 lined sonnet. And if you have noticed attentively, you must have noted that the first 12 lines are thematically divided into 3 quatrains or 4 lined stanzas, each dealing with a metaphor suggesting life approaching it’s end. And then comes the final couplet,- lines 13-14 where the speaker stops working through the metaphors any further and hits the point straight urging the beloved to love more, thus concluding the argument strong, logical, and perhaps quite effective. Like all Shakespearean sonnets, it is written in iambic pentameter and follows the abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme. Do you feel that the structure has got anything to do with the efficacy of the argument the speaker places?

The Metaphors

What do you have to say about the metaphors used in the poem? They all are natural imageries, the waning of the day, the advent of the winter, and the dying fire – all strung up together in a series to refer to the near death matured age of the speaker. Don’t you feel that our close familiarity with these natural imageries make the argument more meaningful, comprehensive, and therefore more effective?

The Archaic Words

Do you have anything to say about the use of the archaic words? Well, use of archaic words used to be quite common during the days of Shakespeare. Do such archaic words induce a classical effect in keeping with the classical theme of love?

Well, it has been quite an exhaustive study of the text independent of the context. Please feel free to share your minds if you have anything more to add down in the comment box below.

The Context

How about a bit of context now? You might find the context helpful in connoting the text further:

Do you wonder why we have a particular number serving as the title for this poem. It's just a convention to number the sonnets that are in a sequence, or to use the first line as the title, particularly if the sonnets are not a part of a sonnet sequence. So, to understand a sonnet from a sequence, it's fairly important to know a bit about the sequence, and the preceding and the following sonnets in particular. 

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 is part of the collection of 154 sonnets that were first published together in 1609 in the quarto SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS. The poems are addressed to a “fair youth,” a young man of great beauty and virtue, and they explore themes of love, time, and the transience of life.

Sonnet 73 appears in the middle of the “fair‑youth” series (Sonnets 1‑126). It follows Sonnet 72, which urges the youth to leave a lasting legacy, and precedes Sonnet 74, which continues the meditation on mortality.

I would like you to share how you would like to use the context in disseminating the text further in your own way. I’m hopeful that you will certainly venture out to read Sonnet 72 and Sonnet 74 after this, and will enjoy the entire experience. All the best...