That time of year thou mayst in me behold / In me you can see that time of year
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang / When a few yellow leaves or none at all hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, / On the branches, shaking against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. / Bare ruins of church choirs where lately the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day / In me you can see only the dim light that remains
As after sunset fadeth in the west, / After the sun sets in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away, / Which is soon extinguished by black night,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. / The image of death that envelops all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire / I am like a glowing ember
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, / Lying on the dying flame of my youth,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire, / As on the death bed where it must finally expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by. / Consumed by that which once fed it.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, / This you sense, and it makes your love more determined
To love that well which thou must leave ere long. / Causing you to love that which you must give up before long.
ANALYSIS
that time of year (1):i.e., being late autumn or early winter.
When yellow leaves... (2):compareMacbeth(5.3.23) "my way of life/is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf."
Bare ruin'd choirs (4):a reference to the remains of a church or, more specifically, a chancel, stripped of its roof and exposed to the elements. The choirs formerly rang with the sounds of 'sweet birds'. Some argue that lines 3 and 4 should be read without pause -- the 'yellow leaves' shake against the 'cold/Bare ruin'd choirs' . If we assume the adjective 'cold' modifies 'Bare ruin'd choirs', then the image becomes more concrete -- those boughs are sweeping against the ruins of the church. Some editors, however, choose to insert 'like' into the opening of line 4, thus changing the passage to mean 'the boughs of the yellow leaves shake against the cold like the jagged arches of the choir stand exposed to the cold'. Noted 18th-century scholar George Steevens commented that this image "was probably suggested to Shakespeare by our desolated monasteries. The resemblance between the vaulting of a Gothic isle [sic] and an avenue of trees whose upper branches meet and form an arch overhead, is too striking not to be acknowledged. When the roof of the one is shattered, and the boughs of the other leafless, the comparison becomes more solemn and picturesque" (Smith 148).
black night (7):a metaphor for death itself. As 'black night' closes in around the remaining light of the day, so too does death close in around the poet.
Death's second self (8):i.e. 'black night' or 'sleep.' Macbeth refers to sleep as "The death of each day's life" (2.2.49).
In me thou see'st...was nourish'd by (9-12):The following is a brilliant paraphrase by early 20th-century scholar Kellner: "As the fire goes out when the wood which has been feeding it is consumed, so is life extinguished when the strength of youth is past." (See Sonnets, ed. Rollins, p.191)
that (12):i.e., the poet's desires.
This (14):i.e., the demise of the poet's youth and passion.
To love that well (12):The meaning of this phrase and of the concluding couplet has aroused much debate. Is the poet saying that the young man now understands that he will lose his own youth and passion, after listening to the lamentations in the three preceding quatrains? Or is the poet saying that the young man now is aware of the poet's imminent demise, and this knowledge makes the young man's love for the poet stronger because he might soon lose him? What must the young man give up before long -- his youth or his friend? For more on this dilemma please see the commentary below.