FREE ESSAY ON SONNET 73

SONNET 73

Sonnet 73: That Time of Year Thou Mayest in Me Behold
This sonnet by William Shakespeare can be regarded as a quite regular representation of
what is called a Shakespearean sonnet. Not only that it is written by him, but as one
will see the structure and the theme are really close to what can be found in other
typical Shakespearean sonnets.
Talking about the form, it must be mentioned that the poem is divided into an octave
consisting of two quartets and a sestet consisting of two tercets. The quartets are
indicated by full stops whereas the existance of the tercets is not supported by
punctuation marks. Nevertheless one can assume that there actually are two tercets
although in this case it is not of any importance with regard to the content. The heroic
couplet .which is often hinted at by a caesura introduced by a full stop, is again not
set apart from the rest of the text by a punctuation mark, but the content gives evidence
to the fact that the last two verses do function as a heroic couplet (the message is
formulated in this couplet). The rhyme scheme of the poem is definetely regular as you
see cross rhymes throughout the first twelve verses and a pair rhyme in the heroic
couplet (ababcdcdefefgg). Turning to the meter, again one realizes that Shakespeare tried
to stick to the classic pattern of five iambic feet. Line four and eleven show slight
deviations in stress as they do not begin with an unstressed syllable following a
stressed syllable. Although there are a few exceptions in general the iambic pentameter
is dominating the rythm of the sonnet.
So to sum up what has been said about the form so far, we can say that this sonnet, the
few mentioned irregularities excluded, is very close to an ideal Shakespearean sonnet,
especially with regard to matters like rhyme scheme or rythm.
Similar things could be said about the theme of the poem: as in many other sonnets by
Shakespeare the general theme could simply be called real love. Better to say, the topic
is the transitoriness that accompanies this real love and how a lover should handle this
fact.
In the first stanza (the first quartet), the speaker compares himself to a season, which
is not given by name. In lines two to four, the reader comes to know that it must be the
autumn season that is described. The image presented is an abondonned cold place where no
living creatures, neither human beings nor animals, remain but all have left. So the end
of the year serves as a symbol for the forthcoming death of the year. This has to be seen
as an allusion to humans` mortality.
The next stanza implies another image that evokes the same atmosphere. The speaker is
said to be the twilight of the day which slowly vanishes as the night falls into the land
and spreads its darkness. This can be seen again as an allusion to men`s mortality as the
author even calls the night "Death`s second self (line 8). 
The next four lines suggest an image fitting to the ones before: this time the speaker is
compared to a glowing fire which is about to go out. Just as in the first eight lines the
speaker is confronted with merciless death.
So to summarize the first twelve lines, provide images of death, and what they all have
in common is that the speaker is in a situation that suggests that he is without any
chance to avoid his forthcoming death. As a conclusion from this, we might say that the
author is laying great emphasis on the fact that death is inevitable, and it occurs to
the reader that the speaker is in exactly such a situation. 
In the heroic couplet the speaker suggests that this fact, death being inevitable for all
humans, should strengthen the love one feels for a person, simply because this love will
not exist forever just as any human will not exist forever. 
It seems so as if the speaker is in a situation in which death is a relevant phenomenon.
Of course, death should always be relevant for a human, but remembering the fact
Shakespeare wrote this sonnet in his fifties the message stated in the heroic couplet has
the character of a warning. The speaker seems to try to prevent young lovers from
mistakes he did himself in his younger years and can only now understand their
consequences. It also might be that his loneliness (line 4: ...bare ruined choirs...) is
one of these consequences.
To put it in a nut shell, the speaker states a clear warning which implies not only not
to forget about mortality but to treat the person you love respectfully with regard to
the transitoriness both of life and love.