Composer

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William Shakespeare

Average_duration

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1:16

"That time of year thou mayst in me behold" is a sonnet composed by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in the early 1600s. It is one of the most famous sonnets in the English language and is part of a larger collection of 154 sonnets. The sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a final couplet, following the traditional structure of a Shakespearean sonnet. The first quatrain describes the speaker's physical appearance, which is compared to the changing seasons. The second quatrain focuses on the speaker's emotional state, which is compared to the dying of the day. The third quatrain describes the speaker's impending death, which is compared to the darkness of night. The final couplet offers a glimmer of hope, suggesting that the love between the speaker and the addressee will survive even after the speaker's death. The sonnet is characterized by its use of metaphor and imagery, which create a sense of melancholy and resignation. The changing seasons, the dying of the day, and the darkness of night all serve as powerful symbols of the speaker's own mortality. The use of the word "death" in the final quatrain is particularly striking, as it is the first time the word is mentioned in the sonnet. This sudden shift in tone emphasizes the speaker's acceptance of his own mortality and his desire to be remembered after he is gone. "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" was likely first performed in the early 1600s, although the exact date of its premiere is unknown. It has since become one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets, and is often studied and analyzed for its use of metaphor, imagery, and structure.

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