Question

What is the theme of Sonnet 73, and can you explain and give textual evidence?

Answer 1

Answer: The theme of Sonnet 73 is the importance of showing love while we still can. The poem deals with the speaker's anxiety regarding his old age.

Explanation:

Sonnet 73 was written by William Shakespeare. It is one of the most famous sonnets written by this poet.

In this sonnet, the speaker portrays his anxiety over his advanced age through a number of metaphors. He warns a young man to love him "well", because he is old and might soon leave this world. In doing so, the speaker describes "yellow leaves" and "twilight", while the prefix 'twi' means 'half' and symbolizes his life which is almost over. In the second quatrain, the speaker describes the black night as "death's second self" which leads everyone to an eternal rest:

"As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. "

In the final couplet, the speaker addresses the main idea of the sonnet once again - he urges his lover to love him, as he does not have much time left.

Answer 2

the theme it is important to be surrounded by people you love when you get older

Explanation:

"that time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves or none or a few do hang upon thoses boughs which shake aginst the cold bare run'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang