Writing a Poetry Analysis
 
Below are three versions of the same thing, Shakespeare's Sonnet 73
 
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Shakespeare Sonnet 73
 
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 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 see'st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by. This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
 
 
Shakespeare Sonnet 73
 
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 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 see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
 
The point is: sonnets are made of language. The language is shaped in a particular way, like a sonnet. Sonnets are composed of either fourteen or sixteen lines. They break up into seven or eight groups of two lines or three groups of four lines followed by two lines or four groups of four lines, etc. Sonnets may or may not rhyme. If they do rhyme, they may follow a number of rhyme schemes (aa, bb, for example). Sonnets usually pose a problem. The problem is usually restated. The problem is usually "solved" in the final four or two lines.
 
Language is a historical object, like any other, i.e. the language Shakespeare used while our language (English) is also his language (Elizabethan English) and we need to be aware of that. This distinction would be true of any poet, even of poets writing today.
 
Poems use various rhetorical devices to do whatever it is they want to do. Shakespeare likes to use metaphors, Metaphors are comparisons between unlike objects that reveal something about those objects. These comparisons work by inserting the equivalent of = signs between the objects or concepts. For example: My love is like a red red rose. My love = red red rose  This leads us to ask, "How is love like a red red rose?" Answering this question is one way of analyzing a poem.
 
 
First Four Lines
 
second four lines
 
 
third four lines
 
last two lines
 
This leads us to the questions: what does it mean to love well what one must soon leave? Do other poets, writers, thinkers, people answer Shakespeare's question in the same way? In different ways? How so? The poem also contains references to Catholicism. Some people think that Shakespeare was a secret Catholic or had Catholic sympathies. If so, this poem functions to a degree as a way of writing about Shakespeare's relationship to Catholicism. It's gone forever (seemingly), yet (seemingly) lives on in its ruins and he has a mournful feeling for it.