That time of year

"To love that well which thou most leave ere long."


This poem is a sonnet. But not just any sonnet, a Shakespeare sonnet! This means the last two lines will be a shift in tone or emotion. The poem is broken up into three quatrains and each quatrain gives off a feeling of depression and somberness and death. The first quatrain talks about "yellow leaves...do hang upon those boughs which shake against the cold" creating an image of fall turning to winter, when the trees become bare and lifeless. The poem gives off a somber tone when talking about "death's second self that seals up all in rest". The speaker is talking to someone and says twice "in me thou see'st". The first time he talks about the twilight and the black night and the second time he talks about "the ashes of his youth". It makes me think that when this person looks at the speaker, they see darkness. But it says "his youth", so who is the his? The final lines say "thy love more strong". So this person understands something about the speaker that will only make their love grow. But before long the love will be gone. I wonder if this means that death is approaching and they are running out of time.