Shakespeare's Sonnets 71 and 73: Mortality and Imagery
This essay offers a comparative reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 71 and Sonnet 73, two poems that share the theme of human mortality while differing in tone, imagery, and degree of metaphorical complexity. The paper examines how Sonnet 71 focuses on the speaker's pragmatic request that his beloved forget him after death, while Sonnet 73 employs extended seasonal metaphors to suggest the possibility of renewal beyond death. Both poems are analyzed within the formal constraints of the Shakespearean sonnet — iambic pentameter, the ABAB quatrain rhyme scheme, and the summarizing couplet — demonstrating how Shakespeare uses structure and imagery to deepen his meditation on mortality.
- Introduction: Two Sonnets on Mortality: Overview of shared themes, form, and tonal differences
- Form and Structure of the Shakespearean Sonnet: Iambic pentameter, rhyme scheme, and quatrain structure
- Sonnet 71: Pragmatic Acceptance of Death: Close reading of imagery and the speaker's unsentimental plea
- Sonnet 73: Seasonal Metaphor and Cautious Optimism: Seasonal metaphors, phoenix allusion, and hopeful couplet
- Conclusion: Mortality as a Shared Human Theme: Both sonnets as universal meditations on human mortality
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The essay moves systematically from shared formal features to poem-specific analysis, giving the comparison a clear and logical structure.
- Direct quotation from both sonnets is used throughout to ground every analytical claim in textual evidence.
- The paper identifies a meaningful contrast — Sonnet 71's bleak pragmatism versus Sonnet 73's guarded optimism — and sustains that contrast across the entire argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The essay demonstrates comparative close reading: it establishes a common framework (the Shakespearean sonnet's formal conventions and the shared theme of mortality) and then uses that framework to highlight meaningful differences in tone, imagery, and philosophical outlook between the two poems. This approach ensures that comparison serves interpretation rather than becoming a mechanical list of similarities and differences.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a joint introduction that situates both sonnets within their shared form and theme. It then devotes a substantial paragraph to Sonnet 71, analyzing its direct imagery of decay and the speaker's unsentimental attitude toward death. A parallel paragraph follows for Sonnet 73, foregrounding its seasonal metaphors and more hopeful closing couplet. A brief conclusion ties both poems together as meditations on universal mortality. The Works Cited entries close the paper.
Introduction: Two Sonnets on Mortality
In both Sonnet 71 and Sonnet 73, Shakespeare's narrator contemplates old age and death. Both poems use rich, dark imagery to convey the theme of human mortality, although Sonnet 73 is more heavily metaphorical than Sonnet 71. Of the two, Sonnet 73 is also more morbid in its imagery, yet paradoxically more optimistic in its conclusion. Sonnet 71 merely asks that the beloved not mourn or grieve for the speaker's death, but rather promptly forget him. Both poems show a wise reckoning with the inevitability of death as a natural season of life, even if fear and apprehension naturally accompany human consciousness when confronting mortality.
Form and Structure of the Shakespearean Sonnet
Both poems are composed according to the strict rules of the Shakespearean sonnet form: iambic pentameter, fourteen lines organized into three quatrains, and a final couplet. Iambic pentameter sets the rhythm by stressing every second syllable. The rhyme scheme is equally predictable: the quatrains follow an ABAB sequence, while the final couplet is CC. As with all Shakespearean sonnets, the quatrains progress thematically, and the couplet essentially summarizes the poem's main theme or point.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 71."
Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 73."
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.