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Sonnet 73, That time of year thou mayst in me behold, is one of the first 126 sonnets by Shakeseare which are usually attributed to a “fair youth,” not a woman. Note the absence of any gender-specific pronouns.
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This is, of course, a Shakespearean or Elizabethan Sonnet, 14 lines consisting of three quatrains (4-line stanzas) and a couplet (2-line stanza), with a rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg, in iambic (poetic “foot” consisting of a unstressed and stressed syllable) pentameter (5 feet per line). Generally, this type of sonnet follows a logic of three variations (the quatrains) of concept, and a resolution (the couplet)as it does here.
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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 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.
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,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
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The first line establishes the personal tone of the poem (mayst in me behold); behold suggests not just seeing, but seeing something remarkable, something self-displaying.What follows is a cris de couer, a cry from the heart, a valedictory lamenting the speaker’s sorrow at reaching the last part of his life: That time of year…/When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang, the year’s autumnal drawing to a close a metaphor for his aging, both spirit (leaves) and body (boughs which shake against the cold, probable reference to the ague, often at the time characterized as a consequence of old age). It is a poignant testimony to what many of us will eventually face.
The three stressed syllables that follow, Bare ruin’d choirs, are a thudding halt from the otherwise iambic meter, especially effective being at the beginning of a line–three “stressful” words, metaphorically comparing to birdsong. But his choirs/branches (boughs), are now bare, bereft of the former sweet song that used to fill his heart. Ruin’d is especially sad, portraying his decline as devastatingly destroyed.
The extended metaphor of the next stanza identifies the speaker’s decline as similar to the end of day (twilight), implying a gradual deterioration from “his” fading daylight (sunset fadeth), to black night, to sleep, Death’s second self, devoid of awareness and sentience, a kind of entombment (seals up all).x The negtive words’ connotations are a lament.
The final exended metaphor is of a dying fire. All that is left of his life is dying embers (glowing of such fire), fallen upon the ashes of his youth, embers that must eventually die (expire), self-consumed by the fuel of his youth (Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by). In essence our living is the cause of our death, an unavoidable and sorrowful irony.
The final couplet is especially poignant if we accept that this poem is addressed to a “fair youth,” who is aware of the speaker’s end-of-life (this thou perceiv’st), his awareness of what will be lost only increasing his love:
which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
But the universal, moving sentiments of this sonnet are still alive and relevant, even after centuries.
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