Analyse Shakespeare’s “That time of year Thou may’st in me behold”.

Analyse Shakespeare’s “That time of year Thou may’st in me behold”.

Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 mainly focuses on the use of metaphor to aid his audience in thoroughly understanding the meaning of each of the three quatrains. Richard B. Hovey utterly believes that "in Sonnet 73 the poet-narrator compares his state with three things: autumn, the passing of day, and the burning out of a fire. To each of these comparisons Shakespeare devotes a quatrain, a quatrain which develops a metaphor". Therefore, although believed to be one of Shakespeare's well-known sonnets, Sonnet 73 has had numerous comments, with different perspectives on its significance, as well as its addressee.

Barbara Estermann discusses William Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 in relation to the beginning of the Renaissance. She argues that the speaker of Sonnet 73 is comparing himself to the universe through his transition from "the physical act of aging to his final act of dying, and then to his death". Esterman clarifies that throughout the three quatrains of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, the speaker "demonstrates man's relationship to the cosmos and the parallel properties which ultimately reveal his humanity and his link to his to the universe. Shakespeare thus compares the fading of his youth through the three elements of the universe: the fading of life, the fading of the light, and the dying of the fire".

Sonnet 73 mainly focuses on the theme of old age and its effect on human beings. Throughout this sonnet, Shakespeare's intent is to allow his audience to observe the consequences and outcomes of old age. To properly get his point across to his readers, Shakespeare uses a variety of metaphors throughout the three quatrains to help his audience distinguish what he understands to be old age. As a result, throughout the entire sonnet the tone of his voice is in some sense negative and cold, because the thought of old age which results in death is rarely enjoyed and becomes a burden on the lives of each individual. This sonnet addresses the poet's lover, who is believed to be a man. Throughout the poem, the poet tries to explain to his lover the difficulty of old age. Shakespeare informs his audience that old age and death both share an inevitable relationship, which each individual must experience, at one point in their lifetime. He uses the metaphor of the season of fall when he refers to the "yellow leaves", before he emphasizes the death of winter, which is recognized, when he begins to talk about the "cold". Hence, in this sonnet, Shakespeare's use of metaphor puts an emphasis on the notion of death and old age.

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