By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘That time of year thou mayst in me behold’ is one of the most widely anthologised sonnets by William Shakespeare, and is often praised as one of the most successfully constructed, and most moving, of all the Sonnets. Before we proceed to a brief analysis of Sonnet 73, here’s a reminder of the poem.
Sonnet 73: summary
Before we roll up our sleeves and analyse Sonnet 73, here’s a brief paraphrase of its meaning:
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 ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
‘Fair Youth, you can see in me a reflection of the autumnal and wintry time of year, when yellow leaves, or none, or few, hang upon the trees; the branches of such trees are like the choirs in monasteries, since they were once home to “sweet birds” who sang, but are now bare.
In me thou see’st 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, you see the evening reflected, when the sunset fades into the western sky, before the sun is taken away by the night, which is itself a reflection of death, which seals everyone and everything 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.
‘In me you see such a sunset reflected, a burnt-out case and a far cry from his youth, which is my death-bed and funeral pyre, where I will be devoured by that which gave me life.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
‘You observe all this, and it makes your love for me stronger, because you love me more knowing that you must lose me one day.’
Sonnet 73: analysis
Sonnet 73 is famous in the world of literary criticism because of William Empson’s close analysis of the image in the fourth line, in the opening pages of his landmark book Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930). Empson wrote that the comparison between branches of trees and choirs of a monastery works. Such an analysis is a testament to Empson’s skills in close analysis, but also to the genius of Shakespeare.
The couplet of Sonnet 73 has been analysed in rather different ways by critics. The most common interpretation of these concluding lines might be summarised as we’ve done so above, in our paraphrase of the sonnet’s meaning.
But Don Paterson, in Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets, favours a subtler reading of this closing couplet: ‘You see all this; and that must mean your love is pretty strong, if you can love this decrepit thing as well as you do, especially when you know death will take it from you soon.’
Both interpretations of the couplet work, so it depends on what we feel is the most likely meaning in light of the rest of the sonnet, and the Sonnets as a whole.
But then it’s not as if these two interpretations are mutually exclusive: the Fair Youth may love the poet because he knows death will rob us all of our loved ones, but he may love the poet even more because he knows that such an old codger is not long for this world.
It is odd, though, reading Shakespeare’s declarations of his approaching old age and mortality: he was probably only in his early thirties when he penned Sonnet 73, and would live for another twenty years – and even then, he died not having reached his biblical threescore years and ten.
If you found this analysis of Sonnet 73 useful, you can discover more of Shakespeare’s best sonnets with ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds’, ‘The expense of spirit in a waste of shame’, and ‘When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced’.
Love this! Thank you!
No expert on Shakespeare here, but just curious as to how Empson made the leap from “bare ruined choir” to “choir monastery.” Nowhere in the text of the poem is a monastery or any like structure mentioned or even suggested. In fact, all of the images in the poem seem to take place outside among the elements of nature. Initially, I took “bare ruined choir” to be more of an implied metaphor for the “sweet birds” themselves. Again, just curious. Keep the analyses coming!
To Ryan:
Despite Empson’s influence on 20th Century New Criticism which is famous for relying on the text alone, he could well have been relying on the historical context of Shakespeare’s time, where allegiance-shifts between Catholic and Protestant rulers, and the eventual destruction of British monasteries were inescapable facts of life.
But your reading, relying on the reality of the bare-branched tree without summer birds, speaks to the power of this vigorous metaphor. Those trees are not just a weak, decorative illustration, but a thing of themselves too.
Thanks for the reply and clarification, Frank. I’d like to say that my analysis, too, relied on the text alone, but really I’m just a sloppy historian. Anyway, I’d agree that it’s still an excellent sonnet with or without that information.
I had never heard of Empson , still we all live in semi-ignorance, but I had to laugh when he began to talk about the dissolution of monasteries.
Keep digging out these gems.
I always love when you visit the sonnets!