Compare William Shakespeare’s sonnets 12 and 73, look closely at the language use to convey the writer’s realisation of death
Compare William Shakespeare's sonnets 12 and 73, look closely at the language use to convey the writer's realisation of death
Sonnet 12
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
Sonnet 73
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest 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 death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Compare William Shakespeare's sonnets 12 and 73, look closely at the language use to convey the writer's realisation of death
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote a group of 154 sonnets between 1592 and 1597, which were compiled and published under the title 'Shakespeare's Sonnets' in 1609. The 154 poems are divided into two groups, a larger set, consisting of sonnets 1-126 which are addressed by the poet to a dear young man, the smaller group of sonnets 127-154 address another persona, a 'dark lady'. The larger set of sonnets display a deliberate sequence, a sonnet cycle akin to that used a decade earlier by the English poet Phillip Sidney (1554-1586) in 'Astrophel and Stella'. The themes of love and infidelity are dominant in both sets of poems, in the larger grouping; these themes are interwoven with symbols of beauty, immortality, and the ravages of time. Lyrical speculations of poetry's power to maintain bonds of love and to revere the beloved can also be found in the larger collection of sonnets.
Due to the great amount of Shakespeare's work and its consistent quality, his particular style became known as 'the Shakespearean sonnet form'. A typical Shakespearean sonnet has fourteen lines, broken down into three quatrains and ending with a rhyming couplet. In each quatrain a different subject will be conversed and described, the subject is then changed at the start of each new quatrain. The quatrain allows the theme of the sonnet to be developed. The ending couplet allows what was discussed in the forerunning quatrains to be resolved. A Shakespearean sonnet has the rhyming pattern ABABCDCDEFEFGG.
Sonnet 12 talks about how time changes the body's image, it also sees the writer thinking about death quite bluntly. He only seems to see that life is short and one life must make way for another. He does not see his value as a human being. Sonnet 73 shows the writer's realisation that death is inevitable and cannot be avoided. He accepts this, and sees that his love will last forever even though he may not be there to experience it.
Sonnet 12, unlike sonnet 73, is made up of an octave, for observation, and a ...
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Sonnet 12 talks about how time changes the body's image, it also sees the writer thinking about death quite bluntly. He only seems to see that life is short and one life must make way for another. He does not see his value as a human being. Sonnet 73 shows the writer's realisation that death is inevitable and cannot be avoided. He accepts this, and sees that his love will last forever even though he may not be there to experience it.
Sonnet 12, unlike sonnet 73, is made up of an octave, for observation, and a sestet, for reflection. The iambic pentameters in this sonnet reflect the ticking of a clock, to display the passage of time. The first line is a very obvious example of the passing of time, 'when I do count the clock that tells the time'. The person is counting the clocks chimes, giving an audible sound to the reader of the clock, which is very important. The second line, 'and see the brave day sunk in hideous night', gives an almost visual suggestion of brightness and gallantry by the word 'brave'; as opposed to the ugliness and darkness of the 'hideous night'. The poet also uses personification to describe the 'brave day', which emphasises his youth and foolhardiness which is taken by the coming night. 'When I behold the violet past prime', the violet is emblematic of the Spring and new life and growth, 'prime' also means the period of perfection, which is considered to be Spring. The poet has used 'past prime' to convey that once was young and fresh is now fading and dying. Reflecting the ephemeral nature of life, which he is losing and that has nearly totally left him.
The following line describes the 'sable' hair of youth is turned 'all silvered o'er with white', meaning that his black hair when the man was young, turns to white with age. Line 5 has a metaphor comparing the destructive processes of age and decay throughout life with the 'lofty trees barren of leaves'. The leafless trees are described as 'barren', suggesting a waste and the futility of its life which is mirrored in the man. Line 6 helps us to understand that the poem is set in the autumn; it describes how a herd of cattle that used to take cover from the heat under the branches can no longer do this because there is no longer a 'canopy'. So all that remains are bare branches, the tree again can be compared to the man, as we get older we begin to lose our former selves in a way. Once we reach a certain point, everything is taken from us, our physical appearance, our memory and our mobility, the tree has also been stripped of its 'youth' when it had leaves.
Lines 7 and 8 form their own story, they describe how the grain was reaped and placed on a 'bier' to be taken to the mill. The modern day and older use of the word 'bier' means a cart that was used for carrying a coffin to a funeral. The corn takes on the image of being old, they to have a 'white and bristly beard' reflecting the old man's white hair. They also are the metaphor for the man's death; they are reaped and placed on a 'bier' signifying their own death as well as his.
The writer then refers to his love, 'then of thy beauty do I question make, that thou among the wastes of time must go', he begins to question the permanence of her beauty and the reality of it. He says that her beauty will fade and decline like all things, 'wastes of time' is suggestive not only of the destruction caused by time, but of a desert, where it is endless 'wastes', where beauty will be condemned for eternity to walk in these desolate places.
The following two lines are curious, 'sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, and die as fast as they see others grow', it seems as though the poet is saying that once one beauty is declining another is born to take its place. What is strange is that he says 'themselves forsake', meaning that they give up their beauty so others may have it. So even though they may die their beauty will exist forever. In Line 13 the poet uses the 'scythe' to depict an image of the grim reaper brought fourth to bring death. He realises that he cannot 'make defence' against death but only wait for it. 'Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence' this means that only his children shall go on after him once he has passed away, and that this is the only way that he can avoid death. He uses the word 'brave' in this context to show defiance against time's brutality, which his children shall do carry on after he is gone.
Sonnet 73 uses 3 sets of 4 lines to separate the poem, summarising the poem with rhyming couplet at the end. The iambic pentameters signify the passing of time, the sonnet reads quite quickly, maybe reflecting the man's age, that he is coming to the end of his life. The speaker uses a series of metaphors to characterise what he perceives to be the nature of his old age.
In the first quatrain, the speaker compares his age to the 'time of year'; which is late autumn. 'Yellow leaves' have almost completely fallen from the trees and the 'boughs 'shake against the cold'. These metaphors clearly indicate the late autumn and the onset of winter, which symbolize desolation and austerity is coming. The winter is considered the end of the seasons, the death of a year, and this can be compared to the old man who is ageing gradually, and may die soon. The second line shows this point well, the use of caesura pauses the line, and almost recreates the blowing away of the last leaves by the autumn wind and of the slow speech of the elderly man. The enjambment at the end of the line conveys the passing of time to the reader, showing that it will never stop. The poet is like the tree, with his decaying, worn out verses being dispersed in the wind that represent the triviality of his life.
'Upon those boughs which shake against the cold', they are trembling in anticipation of the cold that is to come, as is the man afraid of his death that is fast approaching him. It gives a sense of anticipation and suspense of what is to come in the reader.
Shakespeare then brings in historical meanings into the sonnet, 'bare ruin'd choirs', which represents the monasteries that were burnt down during the Reformation by King Henry VIII in the 16th century. It also has a slightly deeper meaning, the tree 'where late the sweet birds sang' has had its life taken away from it. The birds were its life force, they have now gone, the old man is ageing and his life is slowly sapping away. He will eventually become like the 'bare' tree.
The beginning of the next quatrain sees the writer describing himself as the 'twilight of such a day'; he compares himself to the late twilight. 'As after sunset fadeth in the west', and the remaining light is slowly extinguished into the darkness, which the poet likens to 'death's second self'. The alliteration of the letter b emphasises the evening is becoming night, showing the passing of time, and the alliteration of the s, a gentle sound, reflects the subject matter that is being talked about. He sees himself in the 'twilight' of his years and begins to accept this. The 'twilight' underlines the gradual fading of the speaker's youth, as 'black night' takes away the light 'by and by'. His repetition of 'by and by' conveys the movement of time slowly, steadily but unwaveringly. Two images from 'seals up all in rest' are given to the reader, firstly that a coffin is being sealed up, meaning that the man has died. The second is that his death sentence has been sealed by the night as it takes the form of the grim reaper.
Throughout this quatrain the writer compares himself to darkness that is brought on by the setting of the sun. The sun is taken as a metaphor for his life: it is born anew every day, it grows in strength, and then dies away, until it lets darkness pass over. This reflects his birth, his middle age and then his later years, and then consequently his death. The use of the sun shows the predictability of every person's fate, the sun will always rise, and people will always die. I think that the old man knows this, but is unwilling to face up to this fact.
In the final quatrain the poet compares himself to the remnants of a fire, which lies on the ashes of the logs 'which it was nourish'd by'. The ashes symbolise his youth, portrayed as the fire, which is diminishing. In contrast, the love between the speaker and his beloved remains string even though he may not live long. Here the poet employs another kind of language, a paradox, to emphasise their love, unlike the fire, is unstinting and everlasting.
Sonnet 12 thinks about dying, and that it might happen. Whereas in sonnet 73 the poet has realised that he cannot escape death, and embraces this fact. Sonnet 12 very much is written in the first person 'I do count', 'I behold', to convey the poet's thoughts to the reader. While in sonnet 73, he refers much more in the second person, 'in me thou', meaning, in me you. Which involves the reader; it gives them visual imagery of the old man in his 'twilight'. The first sonnet I looked at had far more figurative language in it. This displayed the poet's I optimism of his approaching death. Whereas in the other sonnet it contains more literal language, reflecting his harsh realisation of his oncoming death. Sonnet 73 does not reflect on what has been written in as much detail as the other sonnet. This may be because he does not wish to be reminded that he has reached a certain point in his life, or cannot look back on his life with satisfaction.
I believe that sonnet 73 reminds me of how precious life is, yet it must be lived so that you do not regret anything later. These two sonnets are quite sorrowing to read, because they bring the realisation to the reader that they two will die one day and leave loved ones behind. The only hope the poet offers is that the love will last for eternity, and parting will not be as grievous if the love stays true.
By
Cheryl Gogin
