Sonnet 73

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 ruined 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,
Consumed 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.

This sonnet belongs to the Shakespeare’s collection, the intelligent reader can understand about this because this poem hasn’t any definite title but its title is “sonnet 73”.

The intelligent reader can understand that this sonnet is a Shakespeare’s because it respects Elizabethian (or Shakespearian model) that is caracterized by three quatrains and a Iambic pentametre where there is used alternating rhyme.

The first stanza begins with an ipotetical situation where the Speaking Voice says the Fair Youth imagines his beloved as the period between Autumn and Winter using a similitude with the expression ”when yellow leaves”; others referements to the season are “boughs which shake against the cold”, refering to the arriving of the cold season.

The second stanza the Speaking Voice describes what, according to it, the Fait Youth sees in it: he sees “twilight of such day as after fadeth in the West. Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that which it was nourish’d by”that is a metaphore to tell the intelligent reader that the Speaking Voice is very older respect to the Fair Youth and that he is going to see his elderly and his death personifing it.

In the third stanza the Speaking Voice, always using a metaphore “in thou see’st the glowing of such fire that on the ashes of his youth douth lie”tells the Fair Youth is going to see him getting old and that his passion his extinguing with him.

In the Iambic pentametre the Speaking Voice suggests to the Fair Youth to love what he is going to lose in a short time because he has the remainder of his life to love the others important things in his life.

In all the sonnet compare Old English expressions like “thou”(line 1) that means YOU, “doth”(line 7)that means TAKE AWAY.

The sonnet has been written to encourage the Faith Youth and the intelligent reader to live their life loving before old thing and old people, as relatives or family’s members, because they wouldn’t live forever.