Analyzing Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare

Structure and Rhyme Scheme

• Consists of 14 lines, divided into four quatrains and a final couplet
• Rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Themes

• Mortality and the passing of time
• Beauty and its fleeting nature
• Love and the speaker's desire to be remembered

Imagery and Symbolism

• Autumn and winter: symbolize the decline of beauty and the speaker's own mortality
• Bare trees: represent the loss of vitality and beauty
• Sun: symbol of life and energy
• Fire: represents passion and love

Poetic Devices

• Metaphor: "Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang" (comparing bare trees to ruined choirs)
• Personification: "Death's second self, that seals up all in rest" (giving death the power to seal up life)
• Alliteration: "After the death of that which should have died" (repeating the "d" sound)

Key Quotations

• "When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang / Upon those boughs which shake against the cold" (lines 2-3)
• "Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang" (line 6)
• "To love that well which thou must leave ere long" (line 14)

Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare

Poem Structure

• Consists of 14 lines, divided into four quatrains and a final couplet
• Rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Themes

• Mortality and the passing of time: the poem explores the speaker's own mortality and the fleeting nature of beauty
• Beauty and its fleeting nature: the speaker reflects on the decline of beauty and the passing of time
• Love and the speaker's desire to be remembered: the poem expresses the speaker's desire to be loved and remembered

Imagery and Symbolism

• Autumn and winter symbolize the decline of beauty and the speaker's own mortality
• Bare trees represent the loss of vitality and beauty
• The sun symbolizes life and energy
• Fire represents passion and love

Poetic Devices

• Metaphor: comparing bare trees to ruined choirs ("Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang")
• Personification: giving death the power to seal up life ("Death's second self, that seals up all in rest")
• Alliteration: repeating the "d" sound ("After the death of that which should have died")

Key Quotations

• The poem begins by describing the decline of beauty and the passing of time: "When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang / Upon those boughs which shake against the cold"
• The speaker reflects on the loss of beauty: "Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang"
• The final line emphasizes the speaker's desire to be loved and remembered: "To love that well which thou must leave ere long"