Poem – 6
SONNET 73
THAT TIME OF YEAR ……………..
William Shakespeare
Comprehension Questions
I. Answer the following questions briefly:
a) spring b) summer c) autumn d)
winter
Ans: c) autumn
b) Which words in the stanza support your
answer?
Ans: Yellow leaves
2) The four seasons correspond to the four
stages of man’s life – childhood, youth, old age, and death. Where does the
poet imagine himself to be?
Ans: Autumn (old
age) the poet imagines himself to be.
3) a) What is compared to “bare ruined
choirs”?
b) What does the comparison mean?
Ans: a) The
branches on which the birds used to sit and sing.
b) During autumn
there were no leaves on branches and it was cold that’s why birds didn’t sit
and sing.
4) Through the image of late autumn, (in the first
stanza) the poet convinces his friend that he is close to his death. What image
does the poet use in the second stanza?
Ans: “Twilight” the
poet uses in the second stanza.
5) Like seasons or stages of man’s life, a
day can also be divided into four stages:
a) morning b)
noon c) evening d) night.
Where does the poet imagine himself to be in
the second stanza?
Ans: c) evening.
6) What is referred to as “Death’s second
self?”
Ans: Sleep is
referred to as “Death’s second self.”
7) Identify the metaphors used by the poet to
show the approach of death.
Ans: The metaphors
used by the poet to show the approach of death were the autumn season, the
twilight of the day, the ashes and embers.
8) Through the usage of the twilight, the
poet repeats that he is approaching the night of his life. What image does he
use in the next stanza?
Ans: “The ashes,
the death bed where it must expire”
9) As in the other images, the fire image of
the third stanza also has four stages -
a) fuel b)
flame c) ember d) ash.
Which stage does the poet identify himself
with?
Ans: c) ember
10) a)
What lies on the ashes of its youth?
b) What does death-bed mean here?
Ans: a) The glowing of fire lies on the ashes of its
youth
b)
Death-bed here is the last stage of his life.
11) This in the couplet refers
a) back to the three quatrains
b) forward to the next two lines
c) to both
Ans: a) back to the
three quatrains
12) When does love become more strong?
Ans: Love perceives
when it is going to lose someone, at that time love becomes stronger.
13) The poem is about the stage of life in
which the poet imagines himself to be. What stage does he imagine himself to be
in?
a) Comparing life
to the seasons he identifies his present stage with autumn season.
b) Comparing life
to the day he identifies his present stage with a twilight time of day.
c) Comparing life
to the fire, he identifies his present stage with ashes.
II. Close Study
Read the following lines of the poem
carefully. Discuss in pairs and then write the answers to the questions given
below them.
1) Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet
birds sang.
a) “Bare ruin’d choirs” refer to
i) a
crumbling church ii) trees empty of birds iii) both
Ans: iii) both
b) Why has the “sound” disappeared?
Ans: The sound
disappeared due to autumn season, there were no leaves on branches and it was
too cold and birds had flown away.
c) Why has the poet used the word “late”?
Ans: ‘late’ means long
past-late glory and the beauty.
d) Why are the branches of trees leafless?
Ans: Trees wither leaves
in autumn season. So, the branches are of trees leafless.
2) This thou perceivest, which makes them
love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
a) Who is “thou” here?
Ans: Speaker’s
friend is “thou” here.
b) What makes love more strong?
Ans: Love becomes
stronger when the speaker thinks that he will lose his friend soon.
c) Explain the literal meaning of the last
line.
Ans: The last line
expresses that to love the person whom you lose soon.
III. Paragraph Writing:
Discuss in pairs/groups of 4 each the answers
to the following questions. Note down the important points for each question
and then develop the points into one paragraph answers.
1) How is the couplet a fitting conclusion to
the three quatrains?
Ans: William Shakespeare
had beautiful compared the stages of his life to autumn, twilight, and dying of
fire. Here he wanted to make everyone to realize different stages of life as
well as the importance of last stage of life that was old age. In each quatrain
he had beautiful described its significance and in the couplet he mentioned to
love the person who is on death bed that was last stage. He asked to perceive
so that his love grew stronger before he died. The poet described last stage of
life considering the couplet a fitting conclusion to the three quatrains.
2) “Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet
birds sang” has double images. Explain what the poet wants his friend to
‘behold’.
Ans: It was autumn season;
the branches of the trees were leafless. The trees had withered all leaves and
it was too cold and the birds had flown away to warmer place and the poet
compared that to his last stage of life. Similarly the choir once they would
have sung in church was stopped as the church had ruined and it had no roof and
it was exposed to nature.
