Shakespeare's Sonnet #73, published in 1609, is written in the Shakespearean or English sonnet style. It consists of three quatrains and one couplet at the end, written in iambic pentameters. Each quatrain has its own rhyme scheme, rhyming in alternating lines. The couplet summarizes the preceding twelve lines. Sonnet 73 appears to contain multiple parallels to death and the person speaking in the poem gives the impression that he is near death and reflecting back upon life. The …showed first 75 words of 677 total…

…showed last 75 words of 677 total…of fire, rules the day and the seasons, which directly relates to the image of fire. According to William Bowhan Piper, “Sonnet 73 entire reveals the poet in command of his natural materials, of the images that are relevant to the lesson toward which he is gradually leading us…[to a] some foundation for lasting truth,” (p. 363) meaning that Shakespeare within Sonnet 73 describes death in the truest manner possible. Shakespeare in sonnet 73 gives death a face.