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| William Shakespeare [1564-1616] |
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.
But this depressing thought of the poet is lightened by his firm faith in the consolatory and restorative power of love. The poet rises above his mental depression and despondency as he realizes that the love of his friend will grow stronger with the gradual decay of his body.
The poem, as noted already, has a profoundly personal touch, and this has made it particularly appealing. The poet’s mood of depression here is supposed to be an echo of his utter frustration of life at the time to which the sonnets belongs. Whatever that may be, a stark but sincere tone of pessimism dominates the poem. The poet is haunted with a deep sense of inevitable decay and death.
But, as noted, a dire pessimism is not the only aspect of the theme of the poem. The poet’s outlook here rather bears antithetical elements, and his pessimism is counter-balanced by his optimistic idealization of love. He feels quite confident of the greater love of his friend with the steady decline of his health. He asserts that his friend will be led to love him more because he will pass away ere long-
“To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.”
The sonnet is remarkable for Shakespeare’s use of imagery. The poet’s assumption of old age is suggested by the image of late autumn or early winter. His age is vividly presented with the images of ‘yellow leaves’, ‘boughs’ which ‘shake against the cold’, ‘bare ruin’d choirs’ and ‘twilight’. Death is suggested by ‘sunset’ and ‘black night’. The terrors of death are tempered by its comparison with sleep, and more especially a sleep that ‘seals up all in rest’. The fire of life was once brilliant, but now it has got dimmed. The poet’s youth has turned into ashes. The ashes now serve to extinguish the very flame that, when those ashes were wood, they fed. What is implied, of course, is that the vigour and liberties of youth are precisely what serve to bring men by the excess of youthful folly and energy to their death.
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