That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold is the first line of Sonnet 73 by the great English playwright and poet William Shakespeare.
The sonnets were published in 1609, when Shakespeare had already established himself as a playwright. He probably composed the verses over a number of years, though their dates are unknown. There are 154 sonnets in the sequence, but some scholars think a different poet composed Sonnets 153 and 154, which focus on Cupid, the god of love in Roman mythology. Only two of the sonnets were published before 1609, in the anthology The Passionate Pilgrim (1599). See Shakespeare, William.
Like almost all of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sonnet 73 consists of three quatrains (four-line units) followed by a concluding couplet (two-line unit). Each quatrain has a rhyme scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, with the final couplet a rhyming one (gg).
That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day 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 me thou seest the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the deathbed whereon it must expire, Consumed with that which it was nourished by. This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
This well-known sonnet is one of the most despondent of poems on the theme of mortality. It refers to the cycle of seasons (autumn, foreshadowing winter) and the 24-hour cycle (twilight, which brings night) to suggest impending death. The sonnet also uses the image of glowing embers to emphasize time’s destruction. Sonnet 73 depicts life as a dying fire that must eventually “expire.” The heart of its “glow” must also be its “deathbed.”
Like the other sonnets among the first 126 in the sequence, this sonnet is addressed to an unnamed young nobleman. The identity of the friend is not known, but his youth and beauty inspire many of the poet’s reflections on life, beauty, and the effects of time. Shakespeare could only have been in his 30’s or early 40’s when he composed the sonnets. But he has a strong sense of being old by comparison to his beautiful young friend. Sonnet 73, with its mention of shriveled leaves, ruined choirs, and dying fires, creates a harrowing picture of old age.
Some critics have suggested that the “ruined choirs” in line 4 refers to monastic churches, which were destroyed during the Reformation (a religious movement of the 1500’s that led to Protestantism). The choirs would therefore symbolize another type of life lost to time and change. In a more personal image, “choirs” also suggest the singing birds of the speaker’s own “spring” or youth, which is long gone. The image even hints that the speaker’s own song—his poetic voice—is now “bare” and “ruined” compared to sweet sounds of his youth.
The message of the final couplet is made more insistent by the relentless imagery of fading life in the 12 previous lines. The speaker’s advice “To love that well which thou must leave ere long” applies to life in general as well as to personal love. In other words, to love the life one must leave “ere long” is part of the lesson of loving more strongly because of death’s inevitable end.
The tone of this sonnet is mostly somber in its picture of life’s “twilight.” But in the third quatrain there is also a quiet sense of acceptance, or even celebration, of life lived. The speaker has moved from symbols of impending winter and night to images of a “glowing” fire to describe the self. There is a suggestion that the glow is all the greater because of the strength of the fire before, during its (and the speaker’s) “youth.” The beginning of the sonnet had depicted the self as a helpless victim. The wind shakes the helpless leaves, or the night “take[s] away” the sunset. The fire, on the other hand, simply runs its course, its glow still carrying remembrance of an earlier, greater fire. Thus the speaker’s tone moves from regret at time passing to a quiet appreciation of life lived. He can therefore confidently urge his friend to love stronger in knowing this.
For more information about Shakespeare’s sonnets, see Shakespeare, William (Shakespeare’s poems). See also English literature (Elizabethan poetry); Poetry (Forms) (Renaissance poetry).
