dying in the eyes of shakespeare

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Dieing in the eyes of Shakespeare

In this sonnet “That time of year thou may’st in me behold” Shakespear uses nature to describe life’s stages, while painting a vivid picture of nature in autumn, we can see his state of mind when using metaphors. The author intertwines nature, time, life, aging, and death in such broadness that the personal reactions and perceptions of the poem are broad as well, as a good metaphor does.
When speaking of autumn the author fist refers to it as “That time of year”. Furthermore, he describes the season as “When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang” the brightness of the yellow leaves suggest light which equals life. As the speaker goes on, “In me thou see’st the twilight of such day. As after sunset fadeth in the west”, one can see that “twilight” and “fadeth” suggest he is dieing. Moreover, this has a direct reference on the author’s golden years. Shakespeare uses the most decaying weather season of a year and the fading of the day’s sun light to replicate his feeling of aging and getting closer to death. He then refers to night as death by saying; “Death’s second self that seals up all in rest” rest represents a deep peaceful sleep that he may never awaken from. Furthermore, he proceeds into the conclusion of his theme with the permanent ending of death. “That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the deathbed whereon it must expire.” He compares life to a glowing fire, another one of nature’s elements and once again using the luminosity component of it. Which he believes is the brightest in his youth and now he lies in the ashes of his life, yet still burning. The author mentions how life has consumed all the fire that he has left in him, leading one to believe that he does not have much more to give, therefore, dying.
Nature has the stages of the season and also of the day; our daily cycles are much more like our life stages than seasons.

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