![]() ![]() ![]() Now that the choirs are bare, his youth is gone. We're not positive, but we think the general idea must be something like youthful charm-and the same goes for the "leaves" we learned about in line 2. ![]() Bearing in mind that everything we've learned so far in quatrain 1 is a metaphor for the speaker being in middle age, it's a little unclear what these "sweet birds" might stand in for.Who are the members of this choir? Shakespeare tells us at the end of the line: the "sweet birds" that "sang" there.It's actually an example of metonymy, as the speaker's referring to a piece of furniture-the wooden seats in a church where the members of the choir sit. First thing's first: "Bare ruined choirs." The words "bare" and "ruined" shouldn't cause you too much trouble, but the word "choirs" is a bit trickier.Let's see if we can break down what he's saying to make sense of it. Here, the speaker goes a bit further in describing those "boughs which shake against the cold" he introduced in the last line.For other sonnets that play jokes on Shakespeare's name (leading to lots of obscene puns), check out Sonnets 135 and 136.īare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. Apparently, Shakespeare enjoyed working shout-outs to himself into his poems.A "bough" isn't that far from a "spear," if you think about it-so a "bough" that "shake" is pretty much like a "spear" that "shake," making this a secret reference to… our main man himself. We don't know about you, but we think there's a pretty clear pun in here. Anything else interesting going on in this line? Like, maybe, a hidden joke? We'll give you a hint: think of who wrote this poem.And the cold? We think it's pretty much up to interpretation, but we'd say it's got to have something to do with old age, death, sickness-you know, the general bad stuff that happens to you when you get old.If the speaker is comparing himself to a tree, then the "boughs" or, if you like, limbs of that tree must be like… you got it: the limbs of his body. What's the speaker talking about here, and how does it fit into the general picture (or metaphor) he's been sketching for us so far?.Line 3 tells us where those leaves (however many of them there are) are hanging: on the "boughs" of some trees that are "shak against the cold.".Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, We don't even know where those leaves are hanging. Depending on where the speaker is in his autumn phase (he hasn't told us yet), he might be in early, middle, or late middle age.We're betting autumn's a metaphor for middle age. Which raises the question: what's the autumn of a life? (Now we're getting into, you know, that whole metaphor business.) Is the speaker super old and geriatric? Nah, that's winter.One thing's for sure though: generally speaking, the speaker thinks that his life is in its autumn phase. We're not sure that this line gives you enough information to answer this last question-we'll have to keep reading to find out for sure.Is the speaker totally open about which of these options is the true one? Or does he change his mind twice-first from "yellow leaves" to "none," and then from "none" to "few"-so that the last option shows his true opinion?.And if there are "few," then that sounds like somewhere in the middle. If there are none, then it sounds more like late fall-almost winter. If there are still "yellow leaves" on the tree, then it is probably early fall. Can we be any more specific than that? Is it early fall, late fall, middle fall? So, what time of year "mayst thou behold" in the speaker? Fall, it sounds like.When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang We're willing to bet that we're dealing with a metaphor here-but let's just ride the poem out and see where it takes us. Also, isn't it a bit weird for the speaker to say that you can see a "time of year" in him? Is the speaker a tree? Maybe, but it doesn't seem very likely.Which time of year is he talking about? The speaker hasn't told us yet, so we'll have to wait for the next line to find out. Well, maybe that isn't so clear after all.Really, though, what the speaker is saying here is very simple: "You can see that time of year in me.".The very first line of Shakespeare's poem hits us up with some classic, you know, Shakespearean language, so to speak-stuff like "thou," "mayst," and "behold.".That time of year thou mayst in me behold, ![]()
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