1. Sonnet no. 73
Presented by:
Leslie Monagle

2. That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or few, or none do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie
As the deathbed on which it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

3. Rhyme Scheme & Structure:
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Three quatrains + 1 couplet

4. Meanings, Content of Sonnet 73
Themes: time, decline, death; a meditation on the inevitable decay of all that lives, and the similarities between seasons, elements, life cycles, etc.
Literal: changing of the seasons, summer to autumn; afternoon to night; life to death; fire’s fuel to ashes
Suggested Analogies: the human life cycle, the inevitable decline and death that is mirrored in the natural world
Final Couplet: re: Human nature: to idolize and strive to hold onto that which is fleeting, perishable. (youth, beauty, etc.)

5. Metaphors, References
First quatrain: could be a reference to the contemporary strife in the church (the end of the Catholic church in England):
Line 2: When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Line 4: Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang
-suggests similar imagery, gothic church architecture with its organic lines, arched windows
-church choir is where the service is sung
-quires are gatherings of leaves in a manuscript
“evoking memories of church buildings left in ruins by the dissolution of the monasteries in the English Reformation.”

7. Questions
Whom is he addressing? (who is the “thou”?) What is the point he’s trying to get across?
It seems more a meditation than a declaration or testament in the manner of many of the other sonnets.
Is there a volta? Where?