That time of year

That time of year written by William Shakespeare utilizes the English sonnet. It develops three beautifully written quatrains and ends the poem with a two line couplet that connects the three quatrains to a deeper meaning. The quatrains vary in their meaning, but truly seem to connect by what they all point towards. The first quatrain develops this time period Autumn by speaking of the changing weather combined with the events going on in nature. It personifies the branches that are present in this time period by saying, "Boughs which shake against the cold,"(3). This develops the theme of absence and longing for what once was in the scenario. The second quatrain develops the season further by describing an evening in the Autumn. It is characterized by the sunsets that are often leading to the darkest of nights. This connects to the theme by speaking of death taking in all that is the rest as does the darkness in the night. The third quatrain pertains to death in a sense that it requires a loss that results in some emotions similar to the growth stage. The leaves nourished by the ground are then made a part of it again. The poem wraps its conclusion up with the two line couplet that relates love to the entirety of the poem. It allows the reader to contemplate the appliance of love to the life cycle and how that relates to the quatrains that in a sense build the life cycle.