Sonnet 73

While it is impossible to know when exactly Shakespeare wrote “Sonnet 73,” most evidence points to the sonnets being in existence around 1598. Shakespeare would have been around 35 years old at this time. It is important to recognize that this is not old, even in Elizabethan England. While the average life expectancy at this time was around 42, this is mostly a result of a high infant mortality rate. If a person reached 35, it was likely they would live into their 60s. Shakespeare’s concern about aging and mortality could have been a result of mid-life questions about purpose, meaning, life, death, and the realization that we cannot stop time from moving forward.

The language Shakespeare uses to describe aging is dramatic and dark. He does not find much beauty in this process; instead, everything feels barren, dry, cold, and dark. The birds no longer sing. There are few, if any, leaves left on the trees that “shake against the cold” (Line 3). Night is not only dark, but it is “Death’s second self” (Line 8) that takes everything away.

While a fear of death is a natural human emotion, Shakespeare wrote extensively on death, so his presentation here of old age and its relationship to death fits.