Sonnet 73

All three symbols—seasons, night, and fire—relate to each other because they are all symbols for the aging process.

Specifically regarding seasons, the poem uses the transition between fall and winter to illustrate the feeling of decay that Shakespeare believes accompanies aging: “That time of year thou mayst in me behold / When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang” (Lines 1-2). Wintertime is cold and brings death to the natural world, and Shakespeare wants the reader to associate what happens to the world with what happens to the physical body as it ages. Just as the trees lose their leaves, a person might lose his or her hair. Just as branches “shake against the cold” (Line 3), the body might lose its youthful energy, strength, and warmth. Just as churches are abandoned and the birds stop singing, old age brings isolation, silence, and the loss of what once was.

Shakespeare uses the “black night” (Line 7) to represent death, which is something he does in other sonnets and in plays as well. Shakespeare uses twilight to mimic the seasonal transition that came before, from fall to winter. Twilight is the transition from afternoon to night, so again, this symbol matches the transition from