turn yellow and fall Trees become bare In the same way the poet s youth has fallen away His energy and health are no longer strong Only a little life remains like a few leaves on the tree He also describes the branches as bare ruin d choirs It reminds us of empty church buildings where birds once sang This metaphor shows silence emptiness and the loss of joy It tells the reader that human life like nature slowly moves from fullness to emptiness So autumn here is a metaphor of the poet s old age Twilight Nearness of Death The second metaphor is twilight The poet says his beloved can see twilight in him In me thou see st the twilight Twilight is the time just after sunset A little light is still in the sky This is the stage between life and death Twilight symbolizes the last years of life It is not completely dark yet but the darkness is coming soon The poet calls the coming night death s second self It means death is like the night Both bring darkness and send everyone to rest By using the metaphor of twilight Shakespeare shows that he is at the border of life and death His day youth is spent and night death will soon come Dying Fire The Final Stage of Life The third metaphor is the dying fire The fire is burning weakly on its own ashes It will go out at any time The poet compares himself to this dying fire He says In me thou see st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie The fire represents the poet s life When young the fire was bright and strong Now in old age only a few sparks remain The fire burns on the ashes of its own youth The ashes show the past youth that is already spent The metaphor of the dying fire shows the last stage of human life just before death The Three Stages Together the three metaphors autumn twilight and a dying fire describe the whole journey of human life Autumn shows that youth is gone the poet is now old Twilight shows that death is very near Dying fire shows that the poet is in the last stage just before death The metaphors also create a soft emotional tone They do not show fear Instead they show acceptance and understanding Finally the poet delivers the final message the awareness of death does not break true love love becomes stronger To sum up autumn twilight and a dying fire perfectly explain the last stages of human life These simple but deep metaphors from nature make the poem easy to understand Through them Shakespeare teaches us that aging is natural Love becomes even stronger when we understand the truth of time