Where is the turn in sonnet 73

Typically, cultures memorialize the death after the person in question passes away, only mentioning it in events such as funerals.

Sometimes, however, people seek to accept death as an inevitable consequence before the event itself. This approach is the one taken by Shakespeare in his sonnet 73, in which the poet describes death coming even before the old man in question breathes his last. Shakespeare uses the imagery of a tree in autumn, a day before night, and a fire burning away to describe that death slowly takes away the vitality that man once had.

Shakespeare uses the image of a tree in autumn to represent the image of a man who now teeters on the edge of death but once radiated joy and excitement. At the same time, these images allude to the glory days of the man in question. Still, the speaker's mind does take us to several distinct places: first, the countryside quatrain 1 , where we see a tree with facing down the oncoming winter.

Then, it's the countryside again quatrain 2 , but this time with our focus directed toward the horizon where we see the last light of the sun that has already set. Next, we are brought indoors quatrain 3 where we see the last embers of a fire dying in the hearth. It's part of the couplet's effect that it doesn't give you any real clue about where it might be taking place. This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Please note that: thou means you and thy means your. In line 10 his means its , and the archaic ere means before in the last line. In this Shakespeare sonnet each quatrain is a statement given by the speaker, relating age to the seasons and the natural world.

Note the end stop at lines 4, 8 and The speaker, a male or female, is laying down three personal observations, mirrored in the natural environment. Line 1 is a clear reference to time and its relation to the aging process. It's as if the speaker is saying 'I'm growing old, that much is clear. It's iambic, with five stresses, the common meter metre of the English sonnet. Lines The speaker is reminding a partner, lover, wife, that he's no longer youthful like Spring, but losing it, just like the trees are losing their leaves.

To reinforce this fact the metaphor is extended to include branches and a cold, bare ruined choir - part of a church where the choristers sing - and he's looking back, perhaps to the summer when birds sang.

Lines deepen the sense that here is someone past their prime, not as bright and vibrant. The natural world is invoked again, this time with sun and sky. The speaker is comparing himself to the end of day, a time of quiet, a time of rest.

Things are winding down and evening will soon be turning into night. This confirms the idea of activity ceasing and a finality approaching. The word seal brings to mind the coffin casket or tomb. Lines again start with 'In me' emphasising the personal, the one to one observation.

When a few yellow leaves or none at all hang. Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,. On the branches, shaking against the cold,. Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. Bare ruins of church choirs where lately the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day.