An Assurance of Love in the Autumn of Life - Essay Example

An Assurance of Love in the Autumn of Life (Analytical Interpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73) Not much is known of Shakespeare’s ancestry exceptfor the fact that he came of good yeoman stock. His father was a merchant at Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire. His mother’s folks were rich and influential farmers. He perhaps went to free grammar school of Stratford where he studied Latin and Literature. At thirteen, he dropped out of school, maybe due to his parents’ economic drawbacks. When he was just eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who bore him two daughters and a son. After a few years, he left his family and went to London, supposedly to escape the law. He was accused of stealing a deer. Shakespeare worked in London as a bit actor and member of a theatrical company headed by Richard Burbage that presented plays at the Globe and other London theaters. He was also an associate of a jolly group of men whose revels at the Mermaid Tavern were as famous as their escapades. He had a friend in the person of the Earl of Southampton to whom he dedicated his early poems. “His real dramatic work began when he was twenty-seven and which extended over a period of twenty years. He made an average of two plays yearly, in addition to his poetry. Because his dramas were popular, he made enough money to retire to Stratford-on-Avon” (Cross, Smith & Stauffer, 1931). On May 4, 1597, he bought large dwelling – a pretty house of brick and timber, with a handsome garden – an indication of his growing prosperity. There his wife and children lived, while he buried himself in the London theaters. On April 23, 1616, the anniversary of his birth, William Shakespeare died and was buried on April 25 within the chancel of Trinity Church, as befitting an honored citizen. On August 6, 1623, a few months before the collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, Anne Shakespeare joined her husband in death (Wright and Lamar, 1967) 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 ruind 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, Deaths second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou seest 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 nourishd by. This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long. We shall now endeavor to provide the reader with a brief paraphrase for the above sonnet, giving an interpretation of its fundamental meaning. The poem starts out with a beautiful but melancholy description of Autumn – a season of the falling of yellow leaves – few or none at all. The scene is made more dismal with the absence of the sweet songbirds that have perhaps flown away or perished due to the cold. The poet then addresses the beloved, saying: “In me, you see the autumn of life, the twilight of day which will soon yield to night. Seeing this, your love is strengthened for one whom you must soon lose (THESIS). We digress at this point to refresh the reader’s memory regarding the sonnet which is a “verse form that came into English from the Italian in 1557. Both in form and in substance it follows certain strict rules. A sonnet contains fourteen iambic pentameter lines. These are two important varieties of sonnets in English poetry – the Italian form and the Shakespearean or English form. The Italian form consists of two parts – an octave (the first eight lines) and a sestet (the last six lines).” “The English form, though consisting of fourteen lines (as the Italian version) is divided into three quatrains or groups of four lines and ends with a couplet. The rhyme scheme is as follows; ABBA, CDCD, EFEF, GG” (Colwel, 1968). Sonnet 73 adheres to this given rhyme scheme: A – behold E- fire B – hang F – lie B – cold E – expire A – sang F – by C – day G – strong D – west G – long C – away D – rest We shall now dwell on versification, that is, the formal devices of poetry, which encompass a number of literary terms. First of all, we have alliteration. In the first line, we have mayst and me. In the fifth line, we have: Thou and the. In the sixth line, we have: As and after. In the seventh line, we have: by and by, black. In the eighth line, we have: second, self and seals. In the last line, we have love and leave. In line ten, we have consonance with the words youth and doth. Assonance comes next wherein words in certain lines have the same vowel sound. In line four, we have Bare and where. In line five, we have me and seest. In line six, we have sunset, fadeth and west. In line eight, we have: Death’s, second, self and rest. In line eleven, we have: deathbed, whereon, expire. In line twelve, we have: with, which, it, nourished. In line thirteen, we have: this and which. In the last line, we have: well and ere. Does Shakespeare make use of figurative language in Sonnet 73? Figures of speech include almost any unusual way of conveying meaning through words. We have the Apostrophe, for instance. Apostrophe is direct address of something personified or of someone not literally present. The identity of the person addressed in Sonnet 73 and the other sonnets of Shakespeare has long been a matter of dispute. Whoever she was, the whole of Sonnet 73 is addressed to her, making the entire poem an apostrophe, especially the couplet which runs thus: “This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.” When one is blessed with someone or something very precious and which will not last, he tends to value it and love it with such passion as the heart is capable of. Shakespeare says so in not so many words in the above couplet. An ordinary person would say to his beloved: “In one you see the autumn of life, the twilight of day which will soon yield to night. Seeing this, your love is strengthened for one whom you must soon lose. But do not grieve when I am made prisoner by inexorable death. Some part of me survives in the verse which will stay with you. When you read this, you see my spirit, the better part of me.” Next is imagery. Shakespeare is a master of such. His images of autumn – the yellow falling leaves; the cold wind that shake the leaves from their boughs; the fading glow of the sunset in the west; black night which Shakespeare terms “Death’s second self “– all of these etch pictures in the mind not too soon forgotten. Imagery also set the mood so that the reader may share more intensely the feeling of sorrow that the poet wishes to convey. Metaphor equates what is literally meant with something else, whether explicitly or implicitly. The direct comparison of the sweet songbirds to human choir members is metaphor. It may also be personification or when the poet writes: “My life has in this line…”, he is saying “This verse to some degree is my claim to life.” There is irony in the poem’s couplet. Irony involves a tension or conflict between what is said and what is meant. Sonnet 73 is a sorrowful poem. Human beings shun what gives pain, yet the speaker tells his beloved that the sadness has its compensatory side. It is the sorrowful side of living that will give strength to her love in the realization that the object of her affections will soon go away – “to love that well which thou must leave erelong.” Although the individual sonnets of Shakespeare vary greatly in poetic excellence, Sonnet 73 to many lovers is so filled with mellowed sweetness of rhythm and meter, with richness and beauty of imagery and with deep thought and powerful feeling, that it ranks among the finest products of Shakespeare’s lyrical genius. Works Cited Colwell, C.C., A Student’s Guide to Literature. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1968 Cross, T. P., Smith, R. & Stauffer, E., English and American Writers. Cross, Smith & Stauffer. 1931. Wright, L.B. & Lamar, V.A. Shakesperean Sonnets. New York: Simon & Schuster, division of Gulf and Western Corp., New York, USA. 1967 Read More