Read the suggested Sonnets

[grllopez]

I read the 15 or so suggested Sonnets by Shakespeare. I found several enjoyable, especially #s129 and 116. A couple I did not understand at all, even after I sought assistance. That's just how it is for me with Shakespeare.

Some Sonnets were about living eternally through poetry, some about time, others were about love and friendship. Sonnet 129 was about the cycle of lust -- very interesting; and Sonnet 116 was about the best kind of love being of the mind, or when two share the same mind.

[Natalie]

My favorite sonnet is #73. But many others are just as superb.
Does anyone want to select a specific sonnet and see if we can have a discussion on it?

[grllopez]

Natalie wrote: "My favorite sonnet is #73. But many others are just as superb.
Does anyone want to select a specific sonnet and see if we can have a discussion on it?"

Hi, Natalie,
I read through these pretty quickly, but I'd be willing to read #73 and have a discussion. And, if there is another, then let me know and I'll give it a go.

[Natalie]

I will stick to the first full sentence. He's suggesting that late Autumn--November, perhaps, is his disposition. The leaves have fallen. The birds recently sang in "bare ruined choirs"--trees that have lost their foliage. But now there is little or no birdsong.
The theme is time and aging. What do you think?


Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

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 ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st 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 see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

[grllopez]

I read this a few times, and I agree that he is talking about man's time and growing old unto death. But until I read the entire sonnet, I did not yet know it was about the human course of life.

The first sentence definitely sets the stage for late autumn/fall. We have yellow leaves, few or none; the cold air; and the final or late chorus of birds.

[Natalie]

Shakespeare uses the 8 line set up of a problem: I am getting very old.
The final 6 lines apply a solution: Look at me. I may look ashen and old, but i have been nourished by your love. Just like a fire consumes its kindling, my "love" first has remained and I truly appreciate that you can still love an old and dying man.

[grllopez]

Natalie wrote: "Shakespeare uses the 8 line set up of a problem: I am getting very old.
The final 6 lines apply a solution: Look at me. I may look ashen and old, but i have been nourished by your love. Just like a..."

That's really beautiful. I had not understood it that deeply. It's obvious he knows his love sees his life expiring and yet it makes love stronger to love that well.