Sonnet 73 - "That time of year thou mayst in me behold"

What's he saying?

"That time of year thou mayst in me behold / When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang"

You may see in me the autumn of my life, like the time when yellow leaves, or no leaves, or a
few leaves still hang

"Upon those boughs which shake against the cold / Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet
birds sang."

(The leaves hang on) branches, which shiver in anticipation of the cold; the branches are like
empty, ruined church choir pews, and sweet birds used to sing on the branches.

"In me thou seest the twilight of such day / As after sunset fadeth in the west,"

You see in me the twilight of my life, like when the sunset has faded to darkness in the west,

"Which by and by black night doth take away / Death's second self, that seals up all in rest."

Which before long is replaced by the black night, Death's second self, which covers
everything in a deathly sleep.

"In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire / That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,"

You see in me the glowing of a fire that is burning atop the ashes of its earlier burning (my
youth),

"As the death-bed whereon it must expire / Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by."

The ashes are now the death-bed upon which the fire will go out, consumed by the very thing
it was nourished by before.

"This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong / To love that well which thou must
leave ere long."

Because you see this, your love is made stronger, to love well that which you must soon leave.

Why is he saying it?

Sonnet 73 is almost as exemplary as sonnet 60 in expressing the theme of the ravages of time.
The sonnet focuses on the narrator's own anxiety over growing old and, like sonnet 60, each
quatrain of sonnet 73 takes up the theme in a unique way, comparing the narrator's "time of
year" (i.e., stage of life) with various examples of the passing of time in nature. The
metaphors shorten in duration from months to hours to what may be minutes, the acceleration
itself a metaphor for the increasingly rapid rate at which old age begins to take its toll on the
human body.
In the first quatrain, the narrator compares himself to the late autumn season, that time of year
when the trees have begun to lose their leaves and the cold is setting in. Some scholars
suggest that this metaphor was deliberately chosen for its imagery of barrenness where there
once was growth, a possible allusion to Shakespeare's incipient baldness. Quatrain two makes
life still shorter, going from the seasons of the year to the hours of the day. The narrator is at
the twilight of his life: his sun has set, and Death is soon upon him.

But even so, the emptiness of death is not fully established until quatrain three, where it is
finally understood by the narrator as something permanent. Whereas the changing of the
seasons and the passing of day and night occur in (presumably) infinite cycles, a fire is not
reborn from its ashes, and its extinguishment means the end. Time is the enemy; Time is
Death. The passing of time is the creator and the destroyer of life.

With that said, the closing couplet of sonnet 73 is like an admonition: one's love should grow
stronger as one's time left to love is running out. It is not entirely clear whether this line is
addressed specifically to the fair lord or in fact to himself, or perhaps even to both, since the
narrator's approaching death will mean that each must bid the other farewell. In any case, the
narrator is clearly distressed by his inevitable fate: old age, death, and eternal separation from
the fair lord.

A great number of parallels can be drawn between the imagery of sonnet 73 and that of the
other sonnets, which makes this an interesting example of the consistency of Shakespeare's
symbolism and figurative language. The passing of the seasons was encountered in sonnet 18:
"And summer's lease hath all too short a date." We also saw the sun as a metaphor for human
life in sonnet 60, although there we followed its development from birth to maturity whereas
here in quatrain two it has already begun to die. Finally, the image in the third quatrain of a
fire being "Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by" reminds us of a line from sonnet 1:
"Feed'st thy light'st flame with self-substantial fuel." Note the two instances of color
symbolism in sonnet 73, also with referents in other sonnets: yellow is used in sonnets 17 and
104 as the color of age or passing time, while black is used repeatedly throughout the sonnets
to symbolize the "other," that which is sinful or dreaded.
Sonnet 116 - "Let me not to the marriage of true minds"
What's he saying?

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments. Love is not love"

I will not allow myself to admit that true love has any restrictions. Love is not real love

"Which alters when it alteration finds / Or bends with the remover to remove:"

If it changes in response to change, or if it allows itself to be changed by the one who is

"O no! it is an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken;"

Not at all! Love is a permanent mark that persists unshaken despite the harsh winds of
change;

"It is the star to every wandering bark / Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
taken."

Love is the guiding, constant star for every wandering ship, a fixed point whose nature is
unknown, although its height can be measured.

"Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks / Within his bending sickle's compass
come:"

True love is not subject to the changes of Time, although beautiful faces do fall victim to the
sweep of Time's curved scythe:

"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks / But bears it out even to the edge of doom."

Love does not change with Time's hours and weeks, but endures through Time right up until
the day of reckoning.

"If this be error and upon me proved / I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

If the above is false and proved against me, it would be as impossible as if I had never written
anything, or if nobody had ever loved.

Why is he saying it?

Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous of the sonnets for its stalwart defense of true love. The
sonnet has a relatively simple structure, with each quatrain attempting to describe what love is
(or is not) and the final couplet reaffirming the poet's words by placing his own merit on the
line. Note that this is one of the few sonnets in the fair lord sequence that is not addressed
directly to the fair lord; the context of the sonnet, however, gives it away as an exposition of
the poet's deep and enduring love for him.

The opening lines of the sonnet dive the reader into the theme at a rapid pace, accomplished
in part by the use of enjambment - the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of poetry
to the next without any form of pause, e.g., "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit
impediments ..." This first quatrain asserts that true love is immortal and unchanging: it
neither changes on its own nor allows itself to be changed, even when it encounters changes
in the loved one. Quatrain two embarks on a series of seafaring metaphors to further establish
the permanence of true love: in line 5 it is an "ever-fixed mark," a sea mark that navigators
could use to guide their course; in line 7 it is a steadfast star (the North Star, perhaps), whose
height we are able to measure (as with a quadrant) although we may know nothing of its
nature (the science of stars had hardly progressed by Shakespeare's time). Both of these
metaphors emphasize the constancy and dependability of true love.

Finally, quatrain three nails home the theme, with love's undying essence prevailing against
the "bending sickle" of Time. Time's "hours and weeks" are "brief" compared to love's
longevity, and only some great and final destruction of apocalyptic proportions could spell its
doom. Note here the reference back to the nautical imagery of quatrain two with the use of the
word "compass" in line 10.

Sonnet 116 closes with a rather hefty wager against the validity of the poet's words: he writes
that if what he claims above is proven untrue, then he "never writ, nor no man ever loved."

In comparison with most other sonnets, sonnet 116 strikes readers as relatively simple. The
metaphors are reasonably transparent, and the theme is quickly and plainly apparent. The
overarching sentiment of true love's timeless and immutable nature is presented and
developed in the first eight lines, but there is no twist at the third quatrain - rather a
continuation of the theme. Even the couplet is but a simple statement like "there you have it."
The simplicity is noteworthy, and perhaps it was deliberate: Shakespeare's goal may have
been unaffected candor, sincerity of conviction. It should come as no wonder that the lines of
sonnet 116 often are quoted as Shakespeare's authentic definition of love.

Another interesting fact is that this sonnet is found misnumbered (as 119) in all extant copies
of the Quarto (early editions were printed in small books called quartos) but one. Even this
fact has produced speculation about additional encoded meanings.
Poetry analysis: When I Consider How My Light is Spent, John Milton

John Milton's "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent" is a reflection on the author's
blindness and his faith in God. Milton uses light to symbolize sight in line one of his poem
and in the title. Milton also uses an allusion to a Biblical passage found in the book of
Matthew to illustrate his concern over being of service to God.

"When I consider how my light is spent,

As the second line of the poem begins with "Ere," the reader sees to that the writing of this
poem takes place long ago and that the gist of some words was without a doubt dissimilar
then. Knowing that John Milton probably lost his eyesight shortly before he wrote this poem
is very momentous, because the second line refers to darkness, and because of the substance
of the speaker's question, the significance of this remark could suggest his spiritual darkness,
as of the question that is trailed, or the physically dark world the writer had begun to live in.

Another facet rampant in this work are the biblical and religious references established.
Milton refers to the fable of the Talents in Matthew, in which the man of the story was
released to the darkness; the light power of vision is removed.

The story in Matthew, chapter 11, tells of a master that left his servants with some money.
Two servants invested the money in good faith that they would receive more money for their
master and one servant hid it in fear. When the master returned, he praised the two servants
who invested his gift and rebuked the one who did not. In fact, he sentenced the one who did
not invest his gift to a lifetime of punishment. The master did not give the gift for the servants
alone to benefit from, he gave it so that those around the servants would benefit too.

"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"

Milton doesn't want to be an unfaithful servant. He believes that his talent is poetry. He is
afraid of hearing his maker "chide; "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" alluding to
another Biblical passage (vineyard keeper parable). In the last lines, the tone switches slightly.
Milton feels that his gift is inferior to some that may be more "active" in their missions.

The talent that he deems that God demands of him has been concealed inside him, completely
suppressed, and the speaker believes

that it is lasting. He realizes that this aptitude is not useable; he still desires to serve his maker,
for panic that God will chastise him for possessing the capacity and failing to put it to use.
Knowing of the gift God gave him, he asks how the Lord could give him an impractical value
and yet require that he put it to use. These last two lines of the octet are moderate and
probably the most central; this is where the orator presents his crisis, yet knowing that it is
reckless to ask questions of the all-knowing God.
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: Thousands at his bidding speed ,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

The Lord's reaction in this sestet is what the man without qualm already knows. The Lord
begins by repeating to the man that he does not aspire for works, but relatively those who
receive his mild yoke upon themselves, as he requests the man to do. He goes on to remind
the man that, not only is he sovereign, he also has thousands of angels at his bidding. The man
should not fret, but instead put his faith in a higher being than himself.

Milton's message that standing still and waiting for an order is just as important as obeying it
could mean that Milton is still waiting for his "gift". Ironically, by writing this poem, he has
found it. His gift was poetry to the world. The fact that people around the world can read it
means that he invested his talent and has served God.

John Milton’s poem, “When I consider how my light is spent” uses his speaker to provide a
variety of metaphors while including themes of religion, quilt, and beliefs to create an
allusion.

In the beginning the speaker is referring to “light is spent” to when John Milton completely
uses his sight. Then he uses the term “ere” which means half. “ere half my days” meaning
Milton went blind at half the age he would expect to live.

Notes

1....light is spent: This clause presents a double meaning: (a) how I spend my days, (b) how it is that
my sight is used up.
2....Ere half my days: Before half my life is over. Milton was completely blind by 1652, the year he
turned 44.
3....talent: See.
4....useless: Unused.
5....therewith: By that means, by that talent; with it
6....account: Record of accomplishment; worth
7....exact: Demand, require
8....fondly: Foolishly, unwisely
9....Patience: Milton personifies patience, capitalizing it and having it speak. 
10..God . . . gifts: God is sufficient unto Himself. He requires nothing outside of Himself to exist and be
happy.
11. yoke: Burden, workload.
12. post: Travel.