Everlasting Love
"Sonnet 73: That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold:" Wow. Some may say that Shakespeare is overrated, difficult to understand, and irrelevant to our time. Others may say that he was a genius. I'm somewhere in the middle. I do have one thing to say, though... That man REALLY knew how to put together an awesome love poem. I found this sonnet to be difficult to understand at first ( which makes me terrified to take a Shakespeare class later on), but after my third reading, I loved it.
I could be "wrong," but I analyzed this poem's speaker to be a man on his deathbed speaking to his life-long lover or wife. This could imply that shakespeare wrote this Sonnet at the end of his life, or the "fall." The concept of 'fall' in literature has often been interpreted as the eve of death, and I definately see this concept throughout the poem. Also, I noticed that each quatrain details something that can be reborn again. In fall, there is death, but spring comes again. At twilight, the afternoon sky dies, only to be reborn into the morning. A glowing fire may again be rekindled.
I believe that the speaker is saying that even though he is in the barren pre-death stage, his wife or lover still seems to see the beauty in him and his death. This makes her love stronger and everlasting.
I could be "wrong," but I analyzed this poem's speaker to be a man on his deathbed speaking to his life-long lover or wife. This could imply that shakespeare wrote this Sonnet at the end of his life, or the "fall." The concept of 'fall' in literature has often been interpreted as the eve of death, and I definately see this concept throughout the poem. Also, I noticed that each quatrain details something that can be reborn again. In fall, there is death, but spring comes again. At twilight, the afternoon sky dies, only to be reborn into the morning. A glowing fire may again be rekindled.
I believe that the speaker is saying that even though he is in the barren pre-death stage, his wife or lover still seems to see the beauty in him and his death. This makes her love stronger and everlasting.
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Brooke Kuehn on Everlasting Love: Interesting analysis! I apprao
Jessie Krehlik on Everlasting Love: I like your insight about autu
Aja Hannah on Everlasting Love: I see what you're saying. Fros
Jessie Krehlik on Everlasting Love: I like your insight about autu
Aja Hannah on Everlasting Love: I see what you're saying. Fros
I see what you're saying. Frost has a similar poem about Apple Picking and the end of the harvest (Fall) and the oncoming winter (Death) so I can see how this works.
I agree that Shakespeare is tough and I'm alarmed that I'll have to take him later. I had no idea what this poem could mean if you read my blog so I'm willing to accept your interpretation which seems to work.
But yeah he can write a great love poem. Typically literary magazines like Eye Contact don't accept love poems because they are cliche, but Shakespeare gets the twist, that originality.
I like your insight about autumn being associated with the eve of death. The sunsets tie into it as well. You did an excellent job analyzing this poem, and I've gotta say that it really helped me to better understand the poem when I read it. Thanks girl!
Ps, when I read your title, the little voice in my head breaks out in song "EVERLASTING LOVE!!!" So I don't think your title is boring at all...lol
Interesting analysis! I appraoched it a completely different way. I saw it in terms of "On Turning Twenty". The narrator seemed to me to be looking back on the stage in his life where he lost his innocence and is now watching it occur in somebody elses life. When i read the couplet at the end, i questioned my own analysis, but then i thought, maybe his loss of innocence occured in a realtionship with a girl. Maybe the relationship did not end well so he is bitter towards the experience; however, during the couplet, he seems to change his tone and remember the good times.