Aubrey Mandry Mandry 1

Mrs. Morris

English II- Block C

12 March 2018

Love Reigns Forever

When someone passes on and they begin to fade away, the hope for their love for some-

one also begins to disintegrate. However, in Sonnet 73 “That time of year thou may’st in me be-

hold…” though, Shakespeare gives hope to the reader that his time has not run out yet, This

sonnet show that love grows stronger and time is more precious at the end of someone’s life by

placing images that are at the end of time, it’s structure shows the progression of a person’s life,

and it displays a mood that slowly changes over time throughout the sonnet.

In Sonnet 73, Shakespeare uses images of things coming to an end to also describe the

years of his life coming to an end and how the reader can see all the dying images in himself.

The reader can become up close and personal with Shakespeare because he compares his dying

life to images that everyone can picture in their daily lives. Shakespeare talks about twilight,

which is the time right after the sun goes down, which resembles the end of the day.In lines 1-2,

he says, “In me thou see’st the twilight of such day, As after sunset fadeth in the west,...”. Then

later on in the sonnet he talks about a fire that is no longer in its youth and is dying out to now

become ashes, just like his life is no longer filled with youth and his life will now becoming to an
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end. In lines 1-2, “In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth

lie,...”. (Supporting Idea 3)-One thing that all these lines in this poem is that Shakespeare ex-

plains to us that he is very old and his time as a person will be ending soon, so he inputs lines

throughout the sonnet about us seeing images of the dying fire or twilight inside of him. Shake-

speare gives the reader everyday life images that a person can relate to and relate dying to the

complex images.

Shakespeare uses a different style of structure in sonnet 73 by rearranging his word order

and using more complex phrases to explain the end of his life. Many people mainly think that

when someone is dying or on their deathbed they usually give up hope that the dying person's

health will improve.

The structure of his poem is different. In sonnet 73 though it tells us that our love for

someone who is dying should be getting stronger because the precious time with them is running

out. “When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang…” Shakespeare explains to the reader that

yes he is dying, but wait, there's still time left to be spent with him before time actually ends.

Shakespeare gives us a different point of view on the ending of someone’s life.

The mood that he inputs in this poem varies, from hopeful to dark and then reverts back

to being hopeful. The mood that Shakespeare is portraying in this sonnet is he is hopeful that he

still has time in his life to be with his loved ones, but in his descriptions about his life they are

very desolate. In the first few lines, “Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.”, in this

line Shakespeare is telling us that the choirs are now like empty choir lofts because the birds
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aren’t there to sing anymore. Then the mood shifts to become gloomy with the images of him

being at the end of his youth. He explains to us a day turning into night and a fire terminating to

become nothing, but ashes, “As after sunset fadeth in the west,...” and “That on the ashes of his

youth doth lie,...”. Lastly, Shakespeare explains to the reader now in this sonnet you understand

that I am dying, your love for me should grow stronger, “ This thou perceives, which makes thy

love more strong,...”. The mood in this sonnet portrays a more gloomy mood, but Shakespeare

still brings light into the sonnet by his diction and creating a mood that assures the reader that he

still has time left.

Shakespeare shines a new light on death and love in this sonnet. He shares with us

through imagery, the mood he sets, and the type of structure he incorporates into sonnet 73. The

topic of death that Shakespeare creates is a much more complex, meaningful, and soft hearted

topic.