Have you ever walked outside during late autumn? You probably see the familiar scene of fallen dead leaves on the cool ground and a trickle of brightly colored leaves still hang in the trees. The ground full of those lost and flaccid leaves marks the beginning of a new phase in Mother Nature’s course. The winter chill brings a clear white picture allowing things to be easily seen making it difficult to hide. Shakespeare’s “That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold” is a poem about the cycle of life through which he uses metaphor and symbolism to paint a picture of the end of that cycle.
“That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold” is written in a way that is broken down into clusters of four lines. Each group represents a figure in nature; autumn, sunset, and the extinguishing of fire. Line one is a repeat of the poem’s title. Shakespeare is talking about a time that he will hold and or cherish. That time is slipping away as the symbol of autumn represents. During that time of the season many of the brilliantly colored leaves have fallen and turned brown. The leaves from the tree are now dead and will soon be buried by the winter’s snow and forgotten. Shakespeare uses the beautiful leaves to symbolize better times that have since gone by. To Shakespeare the end of this season signifies the end of his life where he will too be buried, but hopefully not as easily forgotten. Nature cannot be stopped, as the saying goes “nature must run its course.” You cannot hide from or change death. Shakespeare is well aware of this, but is trying to salvage anything left.
The next section in line five is about seeing the twilight of the day where the end comes. Twilight and sunset fit the theme of transition in this poem. Sunset is another cyclical element in addition to autumn and twilight. The poem takes on a new tone and a new picture is painted involving different elements and colors. Line seven where it mentions the black of night parallels the white of winter. In the winter the days are the shortest of the year. The time that Shakespeare has is short and will soon end. Black is of course dark symbolizing death, while white is light and clear. Death is used to symbolize sleep in line eight where Shakespeare writes death’s second self that seals up all in rest.” Self means sleep. When we die we can think of it as our body resting in a deep sleep. In death we are no longer conscience of anything. Shakespeare will no longer be able to remember all of his achievements, creations, or the people he cared for and loved. The last line of this section mentions a fire that Shakespeare sees in him. That fire once bright and glowing is now dimming.
The final part of this poem begins by pointing out the ashes from Shakespeare’s younger years. The fire which represented life and spirit has burned out and turned to grey and ash. Again more colors are introduced and yet another image is given to readers. Red and orange are colors that come to mind when thinking of a blazing fire. Fire also gives off warmth, one that could be associated with living. Grey, charcoal, and white are the colors that signify ash. Up until the tenth line Shakespeare has made the entire poem about the coming of death, the coming of the end. Shakespeare’s insistent message has come to a climax. The final lines of the poem serve up as a final warning to hang on to the last moments you have of life. I believe that is speaks of both relationships and experiences gone through in life. Shakespeare is telling the audience to keep the good memories from life close to you till the very end.
Throughout “That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold” there is a decrescendo. We have the transition of autumn, then twilight and sunset, and finally the dousing of a fire. All are elements that symbolize the ending of life. Shakespeare uses them as tools to help send his warning of enjoy your life and all of its wonderful times before it fast slips away, just as his life is now doing. Continuing with transition, at the beginning of the poem we have things set at a big scope and then as more and more is read there is tapering down. The same thing can be associated with life. You start off with great health and youthfulness, and then year by year it slowly decreases to where you hardly notice. Before you know it your health gets worse and suddenly you’re not so young anymore. I believe that Shakespeare used this poem as a means to bring this is issue to his audience’s attention.
Mother Nature has a set course, and by no means deters from it. Death is a part of that course. Whether we like it or not, no matter what we do old age and then death will ultimately catch up to all of us. When that time comes we can look back at the beautiful times from our vibrant times as a youth. However, just like leaves they fall and pass away. Shakespeare used autumn as symbolism as for what’s to come next in life, meaning death. Twilight is the time just before the sun rises and a new day starts. Death is like the twilight before the day you might pass on. The sunset is the close of that day, an ending of what has happened. Finally the burning out of fire is Shakespeare’s last plea. Enjoy the time that you have before it’s gone. Autumn, sunset, fire dying is all things a part of a bigger cycle. They must occur for those cycles to continue. None of them can be stopped or avoided. It must happen, just as death must happen. Shakespeare uses great metaphor and symbolism to convey his warning. His life is ending and he can hardly believe it. Perhaps he should’ve held on to his loved memories a little better before his fateful day had approached.
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