Sonnets

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1. 
   malibrarian Teacher
   High School - 10th Grade

   "Death's second self" refers to night, and is just a continuation of the idea began in that quatrain at line 5:

   "In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
   As after sunset fadeth in the west,
   Which by and by black night doth take away,
   Death's second self, that seals up all in rest."

   Death and sleep were rather interconnected to the Elizabethans, and Shakespeare uses that motif often in his writing (Hamlet discourses a great deal about death and sleep in his famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy).

   The speaker of the sonnet is reminding whoever he is speaking to that his looks, his body, are aging, and he is entering the twilight (darkness) of life in preparation for death.

   Check the links below for more information about the sonnets.  The link to "themes" is especially good and actually discusses sonnet 73 specifically.  Good luck! :)

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/sonnets

   http://www.enotes.com/sonnets/themes

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   Posted by malibrarian on Monday February 18, 2008 at 6:25 PM