That Time of Year Analysis

        Mr. Tso, I'd like to submit this analysis as the one I'd like you to focus on.   

               “That time of year” is a Sonnet by William Shakespeare focused around the inevitable demise of plant life during the fall, and makes metaphors towards human mortality. The poem seems to follow a quatrain format with an ABABCDCD rhyme scheme.

                The poem is separated into two distinct stanzas, with the first stanza used mainly to describe the fall, while the second stanza focuses on death and the end of things.

                The first three lines seem to be dedicated to describing the most distinct feature of autumn, dying trees, but makes reference to the trees being within the speaker, implying these are actually metaphors for the speaker’s own failing health. The fourth through sixth lines continue to describe songbirds and the sunset in sequence, with the sunset possibly being a metaphor for the speaker’s waning years.

                The second stanza begins where the first stanza left off, mentioning the consummation of seemingly everything by the dark of night, a possible metaphor for death and the end of things. The next line directly compares the night to dark, implying that the dark is “Death’s second self”, which consumes and hides away all things “in rest”. The word rest can be taken in two different ways, the common definition of rest being a period of inactivity where an entity ceases action to recuperate, or the second, more permanent meaning of rest, death. Judging by the overlying theme of the rest of the poem, it is assumed to be the second case.

                The second line of the second stanza implies the speaker has reached an advanced age, describing his youth as “ashes”, something which is the product of a flame which has been absent for a long period of time. The ashes are also described as having to die upon a deathbed, adding personification to the speaker’s youth. The third-to last line mentions how the ashes were a product of itself, the fire, implying that youth itself destroys youth, possibly making a reference to how experiences in life while one is young prepares and makes a person accustomed to certain occurrences. The penultimate and final line are somewhat of a non-sequitur, referring to  a “love” which has not been mentioned so far in the poem, but can be assumed to be the reader’s love for life. The speaker makes mention of loving what one has in the time that person has left, adding onto the idea the speaker is nearing the end of his/her life. The entire sonnet seems to be addressed from an older individual to a much younger one, providing advice in the hopes the younger will heed it, but must ultimately experience it themselves.