Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnets 73 and 116

¶ … Love: Shakespeare's Sonnets

Love is the one emotion humans cannot control. It seems to control us even though we fight it and it arrives when we least expect it. William Shakespeare knew enough about people to know a lot about love and the various affects it has on people. He, too, was a victim of love and that often gave him inspiration for the passion we find in his poems and plays. Two sonnets that allow us to see different points-of-view regarding love are "Sonnet 73 and 116." Although Shakespeare's writing is about love most of the time, he expresses different meanings, themes, and the use of metaphors in Sonnet 73 and 116.

Each of these sonnets reveals different points-of-view when it comes to love. "Sonnet 73" realizes it is complicated and "Sonnet 116" declares it is beautiful. Dennis Kay maintains that Shakespeare develops a "novel way of representing human consciousness, of an inner life" and his sonnets are "at once the speaker's dramatic self-revelation and self-examination" (Kay 356). Through his experiences, we are able to learn that we are not alone. Thomas Parrott writes that when writing his sonnets, Shakespeare "followed the fashion, but as usual, he followed it in his own way" (Parrott 192). Shakespeare's sonnets are not composed with a conventional sonnet sequence and they are not necessarily addressed to a woman. They do, however, "spring from a personal experience" (192) and they do tell a story and the story with these sonnets happens to be love. "Sonnet 73 and 116" describe the ups and downs of love through metaphor and emotion, providing us with a slice of life.

In "Sonnet 73," the poet is very aware of time and what it does to the object of his affection. Time becomes a major theme in this sonnet. In fact, there is sense of urgency blended with melancholy in this poem because the issue of age cannot be overlooked for very long. It is as if the poet is looking through a prism of time and it colors everything he sees and feels. As a result, everything hints of a sense of urgency and sorrow. Thomas Tyler writes that the poet knows "time's remorseless scythe will level all . . . By and by the gloom will deepen into pessimistic darkness" (Tyler) and the poet will cry out for "restful death" (Tyler). The poet is also acutely aware that his lover realizes the age difference every time he looks at him when he says, "In me thou seest the twilight of such day" (Shakespeare Sonnet 73-5). The structure of the sonnet is important also. Jay Rogoff maintains that line "disorder surely enacts the speaker's resistance to aging" (Rogoff), which certainly goes in line with the direction of the poem. The leaves are falling away, like years and the few ones left remaining "express a vitality and desire to hang onto life as urgent and plaintive as the glowing of the third quatrain" (Rogoff). Sorrow lingers in this poem because "death's second self" (Shakespeare 8) is always waiting and it always wins at the end of life. The speaker is an ember on the ashes of his youth and there is no denying death. That life will not last forever makes the opportunity to love stronger.

"Sonnet 73" is also famous for the speaker's ability to emphasize the difference between the lover's ages with vivid imagery. For example, "yellow leaves" (2) shaking against the cold wind along with the image of the sunset that "fadeth in the west" (6) provide readers with the notion that the speaker is well aware of time and how it will influence each of them respectively. This also leads to the idea of eternity, which Dennis Stephen Greeenblatt believes the poet's style "exquisitely conveys transience" (Greeenblatt 252). This transience, lovely as it is, "confers a painful intensity upon the relationship" (253). Greeenblatt also points out that to truly grasp the meaning of the poem and the transience alluded to therein, readers must consider the social code for homosexual love. The Church did not tolerate sodomy and it would make sense that men would be attracted to other men considering how women were often treated as lower-class citizens. Through this "seesaw game of acknowledgment and denial" (253), Shakespeare "stages his sexual desire for the young man" (253). This poem encapsulates the bittersweet emotions often experienced in May-December or otherwise difficult romances.

In "Sonnet 116," we see a different side of love, which seems to influence the poet's attitude toward life as well. The poet uses metaphors to discuss love. He tells readers from the very beginning that love is a "marriage of true minds" (Shakespeare Sonnet 116-1). The term "ever-fixed mark" (5) explains how love is a metaphor for a navigation tool, such as a compass. The poet speaks of love as something that never falters and states that it is the "star to every wandering bark" (7). The star of love is bright and it will steer the course of many hearts that choose to follow it. The poet also demonstrates the strength of love through metaphors. The "tempests" (6) the poet speaks of are the difficulties lovers will eventually encounter. However, the poet's love is "never shaken" (6) by these kinds of troubles. By writing that love is "not Time's fool, though rosy lips & cheeks / Within his bending sickle compass come" (9-10), also uses metaphors. The use of the word time indicates that time will make a fool of love. Time might also represent death, as the poet mentions a sickle. These metaphors are powerful and they all point to the fact that love is powerful enough to overcome difficulties as well as strong enough to make a fool of anyone who finds him or herself in it. More metaphors describe rosy lips and cheeks, common when alluding to beauty. Unlike "Sonnet 73," this poem is more energetic and positive about love. There is no dread or gloom in this poem and it declares love is wonderful regardless of how long it lasts.