Thesis Statement:The paper analyzes “That Time of Year” (Sonnet 73) by William Shakespeare. The main theme used in the poem is old age and the author describes old age in many forms and the anxieties that come with old age as described by the speaker.

The theme of old age is developed by the use of metaphors through the whole poem to describe the reality of old age and how sure everyone is to leave their youth.

Method one: metaphors

“Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.”

The lines use metaphors to signify winter days and the harshness of winter that is being likened to the harshness and emptiness of old age.

Metaphors have been used in the whole poem to show reality of old age and youth in a person’s life.

Method two: Imagery

“In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire 
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,”

Fire and ashes are used as images to show how youth is consumed by old age and reduced to ashes that in this case signify old age.

These are the two methods that the writer of the poem uses to show the certainty and anxieties that come with old age.