In sonnet 18, Shakespeare begins the poem using nature to paint an image of the woman he loves by indicating the objective reality that the season of summer is as beautiful as she, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (1), however his purpose is to paint nature's unpleasant beauty, "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May" (3), to exemplify her inner beauty and his true love for her, neglecting all else beautiful summer might have to offer, for she has much more. In sonnet 73 Shakespeare uses nature to sketch a visual representation of an aging man, "In me thou seest the twilight of such day" (5), whose years are quickly moving along and ravaged by time towards the inevitability of death, "Which by and by black night doth take away" (7), comparing him to the dreary cold of winter, however Shakespeare's intention is to sketch the cold and fatal future that lies ahead to illuminate on his present youth, "This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong" (13), and to grasp it all the longer, "To love that well which thou must leave ere long." (14), before it's lost into the cold dark …show more content…
In his sonnets Shakespeare has a way with transitioning his turn of thought with the argument he is trying to convey, meanwhile completely absorbing and surprising the reader. The rhyming couplets of both sonnets 18 and 73 do this exactly, revealing Shakespeare's true intention and the role of his art. In the rhyming couplets of sonnet 73 Shakespeare makes his role and his art clear by writing; "This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long" (13), indicating the reader to understand the argument that Shakespeare is conveying, with a strong "Carpe Diem" effect, meaning "seize the day", a Latin phrase from one of Horace's Odes" (32). As in sonnet 18 Shakespeare writes how his beloved differs from the summer in that respect: his beauty will last forever, "Thy eternal summer shall not fade..." (9), and never die. In the couplet, Shakespeare explains how his beloved's beauty will accomplish this feat, and not perish because it is preserved in the poem, which will last forever, "and ensure the immortality of his muse." (Mabillard), "so long as men can breathe or eyes can see"