when the leaves of trees turn yellow and fall The empty branches shake in the cold This image shows that the poet is in his old age Just like a tree that has lost most of its leaves the poet has lost his youth and strength Shakespeare continues the idea with the image of twilight He says his beloved will see twilight in him In me thou see st the twilight Twilight is the time just after sunset A little light still remains Night death will come soon This image symbolizes that the poet s life is coming to an end Death will come soon The third one is another image of nearing death He compares himself to a fire that is almost finished He says his beloved will see a dying fire in him That on the ashes of his youth doth lie The fire represents the poet s life The fire will go out at any time This means the poet is in the last stage of his life He will die soon Love Becomes Stronger The finest part of the poem is the final message in the couplet The poet says that when the beloved sees him growing old the beloved s love becomes stronger He writes This thou perceiv st which makes thy love more strong This means that the awareness of death makes love more deep and precious When we know that time is short we value relationships more Form Meter Rhyme Scheme Sonnet is a Shakespearean sonnet It has lines These lines are divided into three quatrains each of four lines and one final couplet two lines The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG The poem is written in iambic pentameter It means each line has ten syllables one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed The structure of the poem helps the ideas grow slowly Each quatrain shows a new image of aging The final couplet brings the message of love Images and Metaphors Shakespeare uses images from nature to develop his idea The autumn tree shows the loss of youth The twilight sky shows life fading The dying fire shows life coming to an end These metaphors are simple but very emotional They show that the poet is calm and thoughtful about his old age The nature images make the poem memorable and special Tone and Language The tone of the poem is thoughtful somber sad calm and loving The poet thinks about his old age and death but also about the deepening of love Even when he talks about death the tone is calm The language is full of peace and acceptance In fine Shakespeare gives a beautiful picture of aging and love in Sonnet The structure and soft language make the poem easy to understand Through this sonnet Shakespeare teaches us that life is short but love can grow stronger because of this truth