In the comments section of the post, I have put the rest of the comprehension question answers for Sonnet LXXIII. You must copy them into your notes by Monday.
In addition to that, you must read pages 226-229 of your textbook, write down the definitions of the different poetic forms, and do the comprehension questions for 'The Altar' and 'Easter Wings'.
This is due Monday.
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1. What time of year is described in the first quatrain? What is the relationship between the season of the year and the period in the life of the speaker?
The first quatrain describes a tree in autumn—the tree’s leaves are yellow and it has few leaves. Its boughs are bare and shake in the cold. It does not have birds resting in it, so it is without much life or animation. Autumn can symbolize when someone is getting older and losing their vitality—they are approaching death since the season after autumn is winter. The loss of leaves could represent a loss of hair and the bare, shaky boughs could represent arms weakened with age.
2. Describe the effective imagery in each quatrain.
The first quatrain contains the imagery of a tree in autumn— some of the most effective images are the tree branch shaking in the cold (line 3) and the imagery of a “bare ruined choir” (line 4) which refers to the absence of birds and their songs. The line emphasizing the bareness of the tree is also very effective, since it contains a progression (“when yellow leaves, or none, or few”). This progression brings the attention of the reader to the fact that the tree is without many leaves.
The second quatrain contains imagery describing the moment that occurs right after the sunset—the stillness of the night and the absence of light. The poet also mentions sleep at this time (death’s second self) emphasizing the stillness and silence of this time.
The third quatrain contains the imagery of the embers of a fire slowly and weakly glowing on a bed of ashes.
3. What is meant by “Death’s second self” in line 8?
Death’s second self refers to sleep.
4. What metaphors are developed in each quatrain? Explain these three comparisons.
The first quatrain contains a metaphor that compares the poet’s age and strength to autumn. In nature, autumn comes right before winter, so symbolically he is speaking about the age that comes right before death. This first quatrain is about the loss of his strength and his physical attractiveness—the branches of the trees in autumn are bare and without the life that singing birds bring. They have lost the strength to hold her there.
The second quatrain contains a metaphor comparing the moment right after the sunset (twilight) and the poet’s mental and physical energy. Because light typically symbolically represents knowledge or intellect, twilight could stand for a loss of mental sharpness. On a more literal level, twilight is also the time that sleep comes, so the poet could simply be talking about his physical energy—when he was a youth, going to bed did not mean sleep, but now that he is old, he experiences “death’s second self.” (When you are young, you spend your nights with your lover having sex, but when you are old, it’s not that way.)
The final quatrain contains a metaphor that compares the poet’s vitality/desire/passion to the embers of a dying fire. By making this comparison, the poet is admitting that he no longer has as much passion or sexual energy.
Therefore, these three metaphors all relate to the death of the poet: the first represents the death of his body, the second represents the death of his mind, and the third represents the death of his passion or desire.
5. What conclusion is presented in the couplet?
After presenting all these metaphors for death, the poet says that his lover will love him more and not less, because she will see that he is approaching death and therefore treasure him more since their time together is limited.
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