An Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73William Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 is widely read and studied. But what is Shakespeare trying to say? While it seems like there will be no simple answer, for a better understanding of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, this essay offers an explanation of the sonnet from The Norton Anthology of English Literature: That time of year in me you can see When yellow leaves, or none, or few, hang on those branches that tremble against the cold, naked and ruined choirs, where the sweet birds sang late. In me you see the twilight of such a day as after sunset it fades in the west; that little by little the black night takes away, the second self of death that seals everything in rest. You see such a fire growing in me, which lies on the ashes of its youth, like the deathbed on which it must expire, consumed by what it has been nourished by. You perceive this, which makes your love stronger, to love well what you must leave soon. (879)This sonnet rhymes with abab cdcd efef gg. Most of his sonnets were written around 1590, at the height of the fashion, but were not published until 1609. The first 126 are addressed to a young man; the rest (with the exception of the last two, which are conventional sonnets about Cupid) are addressed to an unknown "Dark Lady". Whether or not Shakespeare laid his heart bare in his sonnets, as many critics have argued, these are his most personal poems. To clarify...... half of the paper...... end 14). “Leave” in line 14 means nothing more than “to leave behind.” Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 fills and fits well with the three quatrains and single couplet of the Elizabethan sonnet. We can be sure that there is no doubt in believing that some of Shakespeare's sonnets, such as Sonnet 73, were well known and that he was certainly placed at the head of playwrights and high among non-dramatic poets. As Bender and Squier argued (75), in the 16th century Shakespeare is the greatest English playwright and the best of the Elizabethan sonnets. Works Cited Abrams, M.H., et al., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1986.Bender, Robert M. and Charles L. Squier, eds. The sonnet: an anthology. New York: Washington Square P, 1987.McAuley, James. Versification: a brief introduction. Michigan: Michigan SU, 1985.
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