19 pages • 38 minutes read
Sonnet 73
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Literary Devices
Metaphor
Most Shakespeare poems feature metaphors and similes. In “Sonnet 73,” Shakespeare focuses on metaphors instead of similes. Metaphors create a direct comparison between two things, creating a stronger contrast than a simile, which indirectly compares two things. Shakespeare creates this strong, direct connection to emphasize and dramatize the image of old age. The metaphors allow Shakespeare to attach emotion to his subject matter. Metaphors, which are comprised of images, are much easier for readers to relate to than simply explaining feelings because images create connotations in readers’ minds with sensory details and experiences.
This poem uses three metaphors for old age: the changing of seasons; the ending of the day; and the burning out of a flame. One interesting concept here is how these three metaphors work together to form one connected metaphor with time. The three images all depict different amounts of time: Seasons relate to the passing of time throughout the year; twilight relates to the passing of time throughout the day; and the flame relates to the passing of time within a moment. As the poem progresses, notice how each metaphor depicts a shorter amount of time, relating to the idea that as one ages, time seems to move faster. This is a subtle metaphorical movement throughout the entire poem that the three individual metaphors overshadow.
Repetition
Shakespeare uses a lot of repetition of sounds throughout the poem, including consonance, alliteration, and assonance. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in multiple words, and alliteration is a type of consonance defined by the repetition of sounds at the start of words. For example, Line 7 repeats the “b” sounds with “by and by black night,” and Line 14 repeats the “l” sounds: “To love that well which thou must leave ere long.” Line 8 repeats the “s” sounds: “Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.” Line 8 also provides an example of assonance—repeated vowel sounds or rhymes—as it repeats the “e” sound with “Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.”
While not the focus of the poem, the cumulative effect of this repetition is the creation of smooth sounding lines that add to the rhythmic effect of the iambs and the echo effect of the rhyme scheme.
Form and Meter
As with most of Shakespeare’s poetry, “Sonnet 73” is an English sonnet in iambic pentameter. The poem has 14 lines with three quatrains and one couplet. The rhyme scheme is ababcdcdefefgg, and each line contains five metrical feet that, for the most part, follow an unstressed/stressed pattern. The first three lines exemplify this pattern nicely:
That time / of year / thou mayst / in me / behold
When yel / low leaves, / or none, / or few, / do hang
Upon / those boughs / which shake / against / the cold (Lines 1-3)
However, Line 5 breaks up the iambic rhythm:
In me / thou see'st / the twi / light of / such day
The disruption is the result of the word “twilight,” which is divided between two metrical feet. The use of two unstressed syllables in this foot is balanced with two stressed ones in the next foot. While the rhythm changes, the number of stresses does not, thus helping the poem retain a regular cadence. The break of the word “twilight” helps elongate it, which makes sense considering twilight is supposed to represent death, which lasts forever.
Another place where Shakespeare breaks the rhythm is in Line 13:
This thou / perceiv'st, / which makes / thy love / more strong
The first foot in this line is the only trochee (one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable) in the poem, and the point of it is to draw emphasis to the significance of the word “this.” “This” is the thing Shakespeare says the Fair Youth perceives about what has come before in the poem, meaning the idea that youth quickly fades. Shakespeare uses the rhythmic inversion here to establish the significance of that realization and to set up the complex riddle of the final couplet, which is whether the Fair Youth understands that he should cherish his youth, or that he should cherish the speaker.
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By William Shakespeare
