When all the yellow leaves fall off, or just in twos and threes.
Hanging from the withered branches, the cable fluttered—
Hundreds of birds once sang in the abandoned music scene.
You may have seen the light in me,
After sunset, it disappeared to the west;
Night, the incarnation of death, gradually drives it away,
Yan Jing's rest shut up all kinds of things.
You may see embers on me,
It is dying in the cold ashes of youth,
Sooner or later, you will lose your soul in a bleak mental bed.
Destroyed by the flame that nourished it.
Seeing this, your love will be strengthened.
Because he will leave you soon, but never to return.
(translated by Liang)
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Shakespeare's view of time has a strong sense of tragedy. His tragic consciousness is the strongest in the 73rd sonnet, although the poet was only 30 years old when he wrote it.
In the first three sections of the poem, that is, three sonnets, the poet uses three main images of autumn leaves, dusk and embers to vividly convey the pessimism of the lyric hero.
The first main image is autumn leaves. In late autumn, the cold wind raged, and only a few yellow leaves hung on the shriveled branches. The cable trembled in the face of the cold wind. The lyric hero compares himself to such autumn leaves, thus showing the desolation of his life. The trees that once flourished and hundreds of birds sang in the branches are now only shriveled dead branches and a few yellow leaves that are about to wither. These yellow leaves, shivering in the cold wind, like gossamer life, bid farewell to their bodies at any time and sink into the mud.
The second main image is dusk. When the sun sets, the lyric hero feels that life is entering dusk and youth is no longer there, just like the sunset in the western hills. Its afterglow will also be swallowed up by the night, and the second self of death will finally come to an end and be shrouded in "strict and quiet rest".
The third main image is embers. This is the ember of youth, once nourished by the flame of emotion, but now it is dying in the "cold ashes of youth", "the soul will be broken sooner or later." Words such as "youth", "nourishment" and "flame" are in sharp contrast with words such as "cold ashes", "broken soul" and "spiritual bed", highlighting the misery of the cold winter of life.
It is through these three images that the author expresses his pessimism in this poem. These three images are the embodiment of life full of strong contrast. However, the poet's purpose is not to state the horror in his life. All this is to make you understand my situation. Therefore, he begged his lover to see all this and begged him to strengthen his love for the poet. There is attachment to life and love in this pleading, which makes the tone of the whole poem even more bleak.
(Wu Di)