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Metaphors and Meaning in Shakespeare's Sonnet 73
The theme of Sonnet 73 by Shakespeare
Essay on william shakespeare sonnet 73
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In "Sonnet 73", the speaker uses a series of metaphors to characterize what he perceives to be the nature of his old age. This poem is not simply a procession of interchangeable metaphors; it is the story of the speaker slowly coming to grips with the finality of his age and his impermanence in time.
In the first quatrain, the speaker contrasts his age is like a "time of year,": late autumn, when the "yellow leaves" have almost completely fallen from the trees and the boughs "shake against the cold." Those metaphors clearly indicate that winter, which usually symbolizes the loneliness and desolation, is coming. Here the reader would easily observe the similarity between the season and the speaker's age. Since winter is usually considered the end of a season, it also implies that the sp...
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States and viewed the office of the president to be strictly constructed by the constitution. He, like Washington, believed his power as president derived directly from the constitution and the affection of the people. Although he had a Whig theory he made the Louis...
Thomas Jefferson was an educated, articulate and accomplished man from a well-respected family. He had a great understanding of farming and of the relationship between man and his environment, working diligently to balance the two for the best interest of each. He “considered himself first and always a man of the land” (Jewett, 2005). His vision of the New World was of true, idealistic freedom with limited government involvement; an educated farmer, a moral man who would sustain himself off of the very land his freedom was based.
Thomas Jefferson is most noted as being the author of the Declaration of Independence as well as our third president. He was also a diplomat, an architect, a musician, and scientist. His last act of public service was the founding of the University of Virginia in 1819. He valued this accomplishment as much as his authorship of the Declaration of Independence. However, his presidency left great legacies that touch the lives of all Americans still today. He will forever be associated with the Supreme Court decision in the case of "Marbury v Madison," the greatest land transaction in history, the Louisiana Purchase, and with the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. Mr. Jefferson is firmly entrenched alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as one of the truly great Americans.
Thomas Jefferson was the third American President. Due to the fact that he was such an early President, he influenced our political system greatly, both in the short and long term with his seemingly quiet approach to congressional matters. During his presidency, many things happened that changed the United States as we know it. He coordinated the Louisiana Purchase, assisted in implementing the twelfth amendment, formed the character of the modern American President, and cut the U.S.’s war debt by a third.
The Renaissance era of England began after the War of the Roses and the country experienced a time of relative peace. The literature of this time is predominantly written by nobility for nobility to read; however, by the middle of the era there is a broader audience that includes any educated citizen and, eventually, the common people. The growing availability of printed books expanded the market for these sonnets and literature creating the current market of literature. With this market growing, the general populace was given access to works of nobility that had otherwise been barred to them. Many of these works were published post humorously because of a lack of regard for what many of the nobility considered only a past time or an amusement
Shortly after serving Jefferson was appointed leader of Board of Revisers. Jefferson was not too fond of many laws already set into play, so sought out to have many revised. In the years of serving he helped build laws. The state for religious freedom, was one. This law was to “separate church and state and removing the private right of religious belief from control by public law” (Ellis, 2016). Another was “The Bill for General Education”. This law would give everyone whether rich or poor, the same amount of education freedom (Ellis, 2016). By passing these laws Jefferson hoped for a better government for the
"Sonnet 73" by William Shakespeare contains many metaphors to form a descriptive image. Shakespeare used conceits, which are "fanciful extended metaphors" (567), used in love poems of earlier centuries. Shakespeare used these beautifully in "Sonnet 73." A metaphor is a "brief, compressed comparison that talks about one thing as if it were another" (554). Shakespeare expresses three major metaphors in this sonnet. The first is about age, the second about death, and of course, love follows. These three metaphors create an enjoyable poem.
The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6).
Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, denying Time's harvest of love, contains 46 iambic, 15 spondaic, 6 pyrrhic, and 3 trochaic feet. Like the varying magnitudes of stars that distinguish the sky's constellations, infused with myths describing all degrees and types of love, the spondaic, trochaic, and pyrrhic substitutions create a pattern of meaning that can be inferred by the discerning eye and mind. Shakespeare emphasizes his denial of the effects of Time on love by accenting "not" in lines 1, 2, 9, and 11, and "no" in lines 5 and 14. The forceful spondees at the beginning and the regular iambic feet at the end of each quatrain progressively build the poet's passionate rejection of love's transience. Quatrains 1 and 3, declaring what love cannot be, enfold his definition of love in Quatrain 2. The spondee, "It is," draws attention to the word "star" and the poem's essential metaphor, equating love and the North Star, at the poem's heart in lines 7 and 8. This figure of speech implies that while one can feel the intensity of one's love, i.e. measur...
William Shakespeare 's 'Sonnet 73 ' highlights the continuous anxiety; of speaker the due to the inevitability of old age. Through various poetic techniques Shakespeare underlines that the deterioration of time is arbitrary; and it therefore naturally decays beauty and life. However there is a sense that he expresses love as a stronger force which overcomes the constant decline of youth and time. This is strongly represented by the use of seasonal imagery. Similarly, John Donne utilizes formal aspects in 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning ' to convey the same view of the strong force of love. Unlike, Shakespeare 's constant reflection on deterioration; Donne presents arguments to reassure his lover that their love can overcome all aspects.
Truth and honesty are key elements to a good, healthy relationship. However, in Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, the key to a healthy relationship between the speaker and the Dark Lady is keeping up the lies they have constructed for one another. Through wordplay Shakespeare creates different levels of meaning, in doing this, he shows the nature of truth and flattery in relationships.
Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare is widely read and studied. But what is Shakespeare trying to say? Though it seems there will not be a simple answer, for a better understanding of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, this essay offers an explication of the sonnet from The Norton Anthology of English Literature:
Throughout William Shakespeare 's Sonnet 73, there is a consistent theme. The theme is of impending death and the nature that Shakespeare is aging. In the poem, it seems that he is talking to a younger man and explaining what it is like to grow old. It also seems that he is trying desperately to hang on to his youth. He uses different metaphors throughout the sonnet to relate to the way he is aging and moving fiercely towards death. The different ways he describes the way he is aging and the death that is coming is the way he describes the autumn season, the way he describes the late twilight and Death 's Second Self, and the way he compares his youth to the dying embers of a fire.
In the second quatrain, the speaker depicts a moving image of a twilight that can be seen fading on him as the sun sets in the west and soon turns into darkness. Symbolizing the last moments of life the speaker has. In the third quatrain the speaker depicts an image with a similar meaning as the previous, except for one distinct last thought. The speaker depicts a living image of a bonfire extinguishing and turning into ashes, ashes that may represent his well lived youth. The image gives the idea that ashes represent what once was a beautiful life to the speaker.
“She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me, she has drowned a young girl, and in me, an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.” The diction employed by Plath effectively conveys the idea of time words like “comes and goes,” “Each morning,” “young,” and “old.” In contrast with the first stanza where the passing of time did not accompany aging, the second stanza introduces the idea of aging.