Brief account of the poet
- William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor.
- He was born on 26 April 1564 in Strasford - upon - Avon.
- Shakespeare was regarded as world's pre-eminent dramatist.
- He is famous as England's national poet.
- He mainly wrote tragedies (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth are some of his finest works in English Literature)
- He died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52.
Introduction to a traditional Sonnet
- Fourteen lines: All sonnets have 14 lines, which can be broken down into four sections called quatrains.
- A strict rhyme scheme: The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet, for example, is ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG (note the four distinct sections in the rhyme scheme).
- Written in iambic pentameter: Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a poetic meter with 10 beats per line made up of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.
- A sonnet can be broken into four sections called quatrains. The first three quatrains contain four lines each and use an alternating rhyme scheme. The final quatrain consists of just two lines, which both rhyme. Each quatrain should progress the poem as follows:
- First quatrain: This should establish the subject of the sonnet.Number of lines: four; rhyme scheme: ABAB
- Second quatrain: This should develop the sonnet’s theme.Number of lines: four; rhyme scheme: CDCD
- Third quatrain: This should round off the sonnet’s theme.Number of lines: four; rhyme scheme: EFEF
- Fourth quatrain: This should act as a conclusion to the sonnet.Number of lines: two; rhyme scheme: GG
Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnet
- Shakespearean sonnet came later, and, as noted, is made of three quatrains rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF and a closing rhymed heroic couplet, GG. The Spenserian sonnet is a variation developed by Edmund Spenser in which the quatrains are linked by their rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE.
- The sonnets are constructed with three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and one couplet (two lines) in the meter of iambic pentameter (like his plays). In Shakespearean Sonnets the"turn", the volta usually comes in the couplet, and usually summarize the theme of the poem or introduces a fresh new look at the theme.
Characteristics of Shakespearean Sonnets
- The sonnets are Shakespeare's most popular works.
- Sonnet 18 ( Shall I compare thee to the summer's day) , Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds) and Sonnet 73 (That time of year thou mayst in me behold) have become most widely- read poems.
- Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets.
- Majority of sonnets (1-126) are addressed to fair young man and (127-152) sonnets are addressed to a promiscuous and scheming woman known to modern readers as dark lady.
- These sonnets cover such themes as love, jealousy, beauty, infidelity, the passage of time, and death.
Themes of the poem
- love
- aging and death
- death is inevitable
- love conquers aging
Some of the above facts are taken from a English Literature book of Ananda Peiris.
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."
Key words
mayst -may
behold - see
boughs - main branches of a tree
bare - empty
Analysis
From the above poem “Sonnet 73”, the renowned writer Shakespeare metaphorically compares his life to the autumn season, twilight of a day and glowing of a fire and he further evokes that his lover who might be the fair young man can observe them in him. Later in the final couplet, the speaker concludes the main idea by juxtaposing the first three quatrains and the final couplet.
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
According to the first quatrain, the speaker delineates that his lover may be able to observe “that time of year” in him. Here that time of year is the autumn season as the “yellow leaves” create a picture of the autumn season. Autumn is the season that comes before the winter and in the very poem, the poet is probably compares his life to the late autumn season as the “boughs are shaking against the cold”. With the very line, the poet may be trying to portray a clear image of his weak body; describing how his body parts are shaking due to his old age. The third line of the poem brings a quiet nostalgic tone as the speaker couldn’t hear the sweet chirping of the birds. In the late autumn season, it is hard to catch a glimpse of a bird as they are migrating to other countries because they cannot survive in the oncoming season; the winter. By writing “sonnet 73”, the poet reveals the pitiful fact of his present life: his cheerful and beautiful young age had disappeared and as an old person, he may not be able to sing carols like he used to do in the past as now he is weak as the “ shaking boughs”.
"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 the second quatrain, the speaker develops his idea further by metaphorically comparing his life to a “twilight of a day”. Here “twilight” significantly depicts the old age as the twilight arrives just before the night and the night probably will be his death. The speaker introduces himself as an old figure. Moreover Shakespeare reveals when “sunset” disappeared in the west, the night will gradually approach making everything into a rest; probably sleep; the inevitable death.
"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."
In the third quatrain, the speaker tells his lover that the lover can see a “glowing of a fire” in him. The speaker’s lifetime is compared to a fire. Here in the very quatrain, the poet creates visual imageries of how the “ashes of youth” remained there. Here the poet highlights the bitter truth of life; the youth had turned to ashes making the strength and spirit go away as the youth doesn’t glowing anymore. Speaker’s life is about to end making his “death bed” close to his life. When the rest of the glowing fire becomes over, the approaching death is inevitable.
"This thou perciev'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long."
The final couplet is the most significant one throughout the
poem. The poet draws a link between three quatrains and the final couplet
juxtaposing death and love. According to the last two lines, the poet concluded
the main idea in an astonishing way. The speaker emphasizes that the speaker’s
death make the lover’s love towards the speaker stronger.
"Life is so beautiful that the death is fallen in love with it."