Sonnet

Shakespearean Sonnets

Sonnet 73

This poem is about the poet in old age

He speaks to someone who loves him viewing him in old age

There are a number of images - a tree loosing its leaves , empty churches in ruins , with choirs long gone , the end of the day , the sealing of something complete , whether a document or a life , the glow of ashes from what was once the fire of youth . Although different they share a commonality in that all refer to endings

I like the imagery of a tree

, shaken by the wind and gradually loosing its remaining leaves . Often old age is accompanied by tremors , and is shaped by the events of earlier times - winds strong or gentle . Also Shakespeare we know was rapidly becoming bald

The theme and mood changes in the final couplet when the onlooker is urged to love the more intensely because there is little time left

I t is hard to understand exactly what is meant by `Death 's second self

While it may seem inappropriate to interpret the poem as a metaphor for something that Shakespeare never experienced , i .e . AIDS , the idea that love can be a consuming passion is still valid . When we read words written in very different times we need to distinguish between eternal truths and temporary facts

Sonnet 18

This poem , like many others , is about the transience of life , a theme perhaps more real to someone of Shakespeare 's time than ours , because of the elementary state of medicine in that period . In other poems he has urged the young man to marry so that he will continue through his children . Here he seems to be claiming that the man will be best remembered because he is the subject of poetry

Shakespeare seems to be talking to his patron , a rich young man whose exact identity is a mystery

The imagery varies from that of the transience of a summer 's day to that of the permanent picture painted in words by a poet

The opening line is memorable while simple . We all know what the poet means by a summer 's day

The mood is sad , because nothing lasts , yet triumphant because men 's words live after them . The change comes in the ninth line when the subject changes from the young man , as he is , to his eternal fame in the poem

I do not understand line 10 - `nor lose possession of that fair thou owest . In what sense is something owed

Is the poem an honest and emotionally truthful expression of the poet 's feeling or is it an exaggeration and boastful ? The truth may lie somewhere between the two . He honestly feels that the young man is truly beautiful . The poet is by this time achieving some success as a writer and hopes that future generations will still read his words , just as he reads the words of earlier . He sees books as more permanent than the transience of summer...