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 quatrain one, Shakespeare has come to the understanding that death is upon him by describing the changes of autumn leaves, bordering on the aging process and his hair turning gray. The boughs which shake are the tremors his body is having reminding himself once more that he is not as young as he use to be and ageing has left him feeling like he has lost the power to write. By focusing on the fact that ageing

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. The second quatrain is focusing on twilight and the metaphors adjoining death. This is the time between night and day symbolizing life and death, he is saying that I am close to death I don't have much time. In the last two sentences of the quatrain, the end of the day resembles the end of life and showing how sleep and death are the same. He is coming to grips with accepting death but he has a wish for the sympathy of his loved one to see him through it.

is a slow and discouraging process he is building on the hopes that someone will feel sorry for him and acknowledge the fact that he may die soon.

I found Shakespeare's portrayal extremely needy and self pitying. He starts in the first quatrain experiencing the fact that he has grown old using imagery of autumn and how yellow leaves will fall. Well in the process he has realized the mistakes he has made in the second quatrain and he wants to acknowledge them by saying please forgive me, so I will feel better. When in the third quatrain he has realized that no one is hearing him and he is stuck remembering his past mistakes. To then come to the realization that life will end and it is important to cherish every minute while it is here because you can never get it back once it is gone.

In conclusion, William Shakespeare displays the torment a man goes through when he is going to die. Each quatrain is written in Iambic meter to show the height of climax you are going to reach. The way he reinforces this is by showing the stages of his life through nature. Using symbolism as a form of comparison help

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1174
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)