Use Of Metaphors In Shakespeare's Sonnet 73

Shakespeare balances absence and presence in Sonnet 73 by using a metaphor inside a metaphor in each quatrain. In the first quatrain, he compares his age old age to the beginning of winter when there are barely any leaves left on the trees. He continues to compare the bare boughs from the first metaphor, with a choir loft in a church while the choir members are being compared to the “late birds” (1177). Additionally, he personifies the branches by saying the bare boughs are shaking from the cold. The branches cannot actually feel cold, so they are just shaking from the wind. The entire quatrain is filled with brilliant imagery. In the second quatrain, he compares his old age to the fading twilight and the sun fading in the west. He continues