Sonnet 73

A detailed Summary of Sonnet 73


Many sonnets written by William Shakespeare deal with tragedy, love and death, in sonnet seventy-three he focuses on death along with the signs of aging. Whether or not he is the topic of the sonnet or an observer, he expresses everything as if he were the topic. Shakespeare was at an age in his life where he could relate to the sonnet, which made the poem so much more effective. The subject of this sonnet is being looked at, and the observer comes to the conclusion that they see late fall, twilight and a dying fire; that is, the observer realizes that the person is getting old and they will soon lose him. Shakespeare's way of reflecting the onset of aging and death is expressed through many propositions like theme, imagery, and wordplay.

One of the many significant points that reflect the onset of aging and death is through the theme. This sonnet takes place in autumn, because in the very beginning a tree is being compared to the person. The yellow leaves falling in autumn supports the idea of paper turning yellow as time goes by, which indirectly suggests that people get old and will parish as years slip by. "Bare ruined choirs, where once the sweet late bird sang" tells the reader that in the summer time the birds


Shakespeare sonnets use a variety of words to manipulate the actual meaning of sentences. His creative words tell a story all by itself with the use of metaphors, from the words describing the subjects' youth to the ashes of his deathbed. Shakespeare writes about yellow leaves clinging on to the trees and birds that use to sing on the branches in the summer time. These images can be interpreted as the person whom Shakespeare is referring to was young before but at the present moment, he is old and almost ready to die. The ash that his youth lies upon is manipulated to represent his deathbed where upon he will lie when it is time for him to die. Shakespeare compares the love between the two people as a log burning, as the fire is burning the log; the log becomes smaller consequentially resulting in the fire to dye out.

In conclusion, Shakespeare's sonnet seventy-three has accomplished the task of letting the readers know that this is about death and aging. The theme was well represented to make the sonnets meaning of aging and death the topic of this piece. Imagery was expressed to represent the sonnet successfully. The images Shakespeare created make the sonnet more interesting a

Some common words found in the essay are:
William Shakespeare, aging death, onset aging death, , onset aging, death expressed, theme imagery wordplay, branches summer, theme imagery, sonnet seventy-three, leaves clinging, birds sing, sonnet tree, imagery wordplay,

Approximate Word count = 808
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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