Shakespeare portrays imagery of nature in the second line, he uses the modifier “yellow leaves” to suggest that autumn is the time of year that he is trying depict. He then uses the syndetic listing “or none, or few, do hang” to depict branches having their leaves stripped which increases the imagery of nature and of an autumnal time of year.
In the fourth line, Shakespeare uses antithesis in the phrase “Bare ruin’d choirs” which suggests birds are no longer singing. This is amplified by the adverbial phrase “where late the sweet birds sang”. This quatrain depicts a hollow barren scene, this could depict the persona emotions as him feeling isolated and secluded.
Shakespeare starts the second quatrain with the preposition “in me thou seest the twilight of such day” which suggests that the persona is talking to someone and establishes the imagery of end of this time. Also the intensifier “such day” suggests that it is the specific time that he mentions in the first quatrain.
The second line of this quatrain narrates that darkness is near approaching. This is shown in the noun phrase “As after sunset fadeth in the west”, the noun “sunset” suggests the end of a day and the pronoun “west” reemphasises this point. In the next line, Shakespeare narrates how life is being stolen. He uses the line “which by and by black night doth take away”. The plosive alliteration of the phrase “by and by black night” suggests an ominous imagery of death and depicts the end of time.
The final line in the second quatrain, Shakespeare narrates death. He uses personification in the phrase “Death’s second self” which, by the pronoun “Death” suggests the Grim Reaper and suggests that this is the end of the life of the persona. Shakespeare then reemphasises the imagery of death in the noun phrase “seals up all in rest”. The noun “seals” connotes a lockdown of a coffin and the end focus of the noun “rest” suggests the biblical mean of rest in peace.
The third quatrain starts with the repetition of the phrase “In me thou see’st the”, however the premodifier has been altered to “glowing” and the post-intensifier has been altered to “fire”. These alterations suggest a representation of life coming to an end as the fires die to embers. This imagery is then reemphasised by the phrase “the ashes of his youth doth lie”, which connotes the end of an year and the end of life. The verbal phrase “consumed with that” suggests a final end to life and the transitive verb “nourish’d” suggests a love with his life who has taken care of him through his suffering.
The volta of the poem contains a rhyming couplet in which, the message is to learn from his mistakes and to use the time you have on this earth wisely. He is aiming this message to man and focusing on the mortality of our species. He also connotes that time is a destroyer of life.
Analysis: Nature’s Questioning
