Conveying Powerful Meanings Through Elementary Words: An Analysis of William

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73

William Shakespeare’s sonnets are an iconic example of the power of poetry and how it

utilizes structure and language to create powerful texts within the English language.

Shakespeare’s sonnets use unique structure and language to convey particular meanings through

the use of the rhyming scheme, iambic pentameter, and unique literary devices. Within Sonnet

731, Shakespeare’s vocabulary of choice can be described as if he is "ruminating" or reflecting on

a set of topics and speaking about his thoughts to the reader. When the author’s poem is explored

through this format, it is discoverable that he integrates powerful themes with profound morals

and messages about life and its appreciation, as well as how it relates to the earth. In Sonnet 73,

Shakespeare explores themes of surroundings, youth, seniorhood, and death, as well as primarily

the appreciation of one’s life by the day and by decades, as the writer ponders how a person and

their perception of their life both change as the person ages.

One thing that the author is ruminating about is the appreciation of one’s prior life and how it

relates to age. In lines 2 to 4, "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 (73.

2-4)", the narrator uses visual, tactile, and auditory imagery not to simply convey aspects of

nature to the reader but to help the reader visualize the poet’s thoughts. The second line, for

example, describes a tree where some or no yellow leaves hang. This is a clear metaphor for

aging, as a tree that has lost many of its leaves can signify how an elderly person may have lost

touch with their characteristics or activities they used to enjoy. The third line, "Upon those

boughs that shake against the cold (73.3)" describes how the few leaves remaining still have the

1. Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 73. MCAS, 2010. Web.

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strength to hang on to the harsh, cold wind. This is akin to how an elderly person can still have a

few strong and unique characteristics that resonate with them and still hang on from a person’s

youth or adulthood.

Lastly, the fourth line uses the imagery of chirping birds to convey nostalgia; the line "where

late the sweet birds sang (73.4)" states a pleasant aspect of birds in the past tense, suggesting that

the elderly person is feeling nostalgic for and may even begin to miss their past life, which they

may view as "better" or "happier" than their current life. The use of imagery in the phrases

"yellow leaves", "shake against the cold", "Bare ruined choirs" and "sweet birds sang" all suggest

that the poet might be pondering over common attributes of life and connecting these with how

an elderly person might feel about his or her past. Through the first quatrain of the sonnet,

Shakespeare uses effective techniques to integrate metaphors with imagery, comparing the

emotions felt during the aging of a person to beautiful aspects of nature.

Another thing Shakespeare may be ruminating about is sleep and rest. Shakespeare writes

about sleep and its relationship to the day as well as to death, thereby developing an even

stronger theme surrounding the poet’s surroundings. In lines 5 to 6, "In me thou seest the twilight

of such day / As after sunset fadeth in the west (73.5-6)," Shakespeare conveys the beauty of life

through visualizing a visible sunset that eventually fades in the west, suggesting to the reader that

the appreciation of a day is most noticeable close to the end of the day, like how the sun is

visually most pleasant during a sunset. Shakespeare then writes about a sunset’s succeeding

period, night, between lines 7 and 8, writing, "Which by and by black night doth take away, /

Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest (73.7-8)." Here, Shakespeare uses imagery across a

metaphor to compare sleep to death, saying that the lack of consciousness during sleep is akin to

the lack of consciousness during death.

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The tone used by the writer within lines 5 to 8 is also notable; the phrases "twilight of such

day" and "sunset fadeth" in lines 5 to 6 both paint a happy, optimistic tone, as they are both used

in visualizing a beautiful sunset. In contrast, the phrase "back night doth take away" suggests that

night takes special aspects away from a person or day. The phrase "Death’s second self"

compares sleep to a separate identity of death; a person’s sleep is merely a separate experience of

the reality of death. Between lines 5 and 8, Shakespeare juxtaposes the activeness of any person

during a sunset with the rest of the same person during the night, or how people are awake at

sunset but asleep at night. Shakespeare also juxtaposes the themes of gratitude and allure

associated with a sunset with the darkness and lack of consciousness associated with night. By

contrasting these two elements, Shakespeare is able to invoke an eternal appreciation of the day

and night cycle and the emotions felt during the cycle by a person. Shakespeare also takes the

themes of life and death and applies them to the daily life of a person. Through the second

quatrain, the use of literary devices such as juxtaposition, metaphors, and imagery allows the

poet to integrate several themes across day and night and combine them with aspects of a

person’s life by day.

Next, the narrator ruminates about the contrasting lives of a person in their youth and a person

close to death. In lines 10 to 12, the author writes, "That on the ashes of his youth doth lie / As

the death-bed whereon it must expire, / Consumed with that which it was nourished by

(73.10-12)." The writer can be seen as coming back to his original thoughts from the first

quatrain about the thoughts of an elderly person. The phrase "on the ashes of his youth doth lie"

uses symbolism to convey the lost aspects of an elderly person’s youth, where the "ashes"

symbolize the lost livelihood and activeness. In the line "As the death-bed whereon it must

expire (73.11)", the poet continues with his line of thought on the lost life of an elderly person. A
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deathbed symbolizes the end of a person’s existence, so the narrator believes that a person’s

death reflects the "expiration" of said person’s life.

Finally, the line "Consumed with that which it was nourished by (73.12)" reflects on the

person’s past childhood, youth, and adulthood and how the person "consumes" life experiences

and milestones, thereby "nourishing" said person’s self. The writer uses a dark tone in the third

quatrain, using phrases such as "ashes of his youth" and "death-bed", which mean that the person

has passed away. The dark tone could symbolize how the narrator is experiencing dark thoughts

and may feel upset about the topic he is thinking about. Altogether, Shakespeare means that an

aged person’s lost aspects of his or her youth are reflected on near the end of a person’s life,

where the experiences of a person’s past and present can no longer be echoed. William

Shakespeare uses proficient symbolism to aid the reader in understanding how death causes a

person to ponder over their past lives.

Last but not least, Shakespeare ruminates about love and the necessity of it in the face of

death. In the final two lines of the sonnet, the author writes, "This thou perceiv’st, which makes

thy love more strong, / To love that well which thou must leave ere long (73.13-14)." The writer

ends the poem by connecting the previous quatrain concerning death and lost experiences with a

strong message of love and gratitude, stating that the realization of death makes a person’s

gratitude for life and other people more strong and that a person’s gratitude must stay as strong

for one’s life. During this couplet, the narrator uses a highly optimistic tone, using phrases such

as "thy love more strong", "To love that well" and "thou must leave ere long", all of which relate

to love and gratitude, as well as its strength and duration, suggesting that the writer has

understood the importance of appreciating one’s life. Shakespeare ends the 14-line poem Sonnet
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73 with a powerful statement on affection, gratefulness, and how both must stay strong to ensure

satisfaction in one’s life.

To conclude, William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 is a poem that uses special vocabulary,

structure, and literary devices to explore humans, their aging, and how it relates to their

surroundings through Shakespeare’s point of view while also sharing his thoughts on how

appreciation for life changes with a person’s age and the necessity of enjoying life through all

stages of it. The narrator first ruminates about the feelings of an elderly person and how they

compare to nature before ruminating about how day and night are akin to life and death. Next,

the author takes a dark turn when reflecting on the contrasting emotions between a young and old

person before finally realizing the importance of loving life for its full duration. Shakespeare’s

poem allows the reader to capture an incredible perception of not only how a person’s perception

of themselves might change as he or she gets older, but why this change proves the necessity of

holding appreciation throughout one’s entire life.

Works Cited:

Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 73. MCAS, 2010. Retrieved From:

.https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/MCAS-g10ela-2010.pdf