Sonnet 73 Essay

Sonnet 73 depicts time as a catalyst of love. Oppositely, Millay 's Sonnet II reports time to be an enemy who causes continuous pain and heartbreak. Despite the differing messages, both Shakespeare and Millay explain time and its relationship to love using vivid metaphors that deal with nature. Shakespeare 's Sonnet 73 begins with the speaker calling himself “that time of year” (1) “when yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang” (2). His lover sees him as autumn, the season preceding winter. Winter is the season of death where all plants face their end. The speaker is getting old, and he will face death very soon. Next, he is described as “the twilight of such day, as after sunset fadeth in the west” (5-6). Here here is that last glimmer

Contrary to the “bitter loving”, Sonnet 73 recalls the time before death as a period which “makes thy love more strong” (13). This relationship experiences no bitterness or negativity. In fact, the love only intensifies when faced with hardship. The female vows “to love well, which must leave ere long” (14). Death is inevitable, and it will separate the couple forever; however, her love for him will persist even when his life does not go on. True love does not die when it is strained. It can withstand even the most ruthless force on earth: time. In this particular relationship, time will continue to strengthen love and make death more bearable. Sonnet II explicitly disagrees with this theory relating love and time because the speaker solemnly states, “Time does not bring relief” (1). It has failed to “ease [her] of [her] pain!” (2). Time has aged her lover and taken him away, and it shows no sympathy for her either. To help heal herself, she removed herself from everywhere “fell his foot or shone his face” (12) in order to forget him and their gutted love. Regardless of her efforts, she is unable to do so, leaving her “stricken” (14). She sees time as a cruel thing, whereas Shakespeare’s sonnet paints time to be a positive thing that helps fortify