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Difficulty: MediumFigurative Language Devices

Read the following poem by William Shakespeare (1609) carefully:

1 That time of year thou mayst in me behold
2 When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
3 Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
4 Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
5 In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
6 As after sunset fadeth in the west,
7 Which by and by black night doth take away,
8 Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
9 In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
10 That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
11 As the death-bed whereon it must expire
12 Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
13 This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
14 To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

In the context of the poem’s progression, how does the metaphor of the fading fire in lines 9-12 function differently from the metaphors of autumn (lines 1-4) and twilight (lines 5-8)?

  1. A
    It identifies Shakespeare’s personal anxieties about his decline in creative output as he approached the end of his career.
  2. B
    It functions as a literal description of the physical setting where the speaker sits by the hearth to keep warm.
  3. It represents the speaker’s decline as an internal, self-consuming process rather than a transition dictated by external, natural cycles.Answer
  4. D
    It serves to label the fire as a symbol of passion, which contrasts with the coldness of winter, without explaining its structural role.
  5. E
    It introduces a sudden shift in tone from mournful resignation to celebration, indicating that the speaker has overcome the fear of mortality.

Answer

It represents the speaker’s decline as an internal, self-consuming process rather than a transition dictated by external, natural cycles.
The metaphor of the glowing fire in lines 9-12 depicts aging as an internal, self-consuming process. Unlike the external environmental cycles of autumn and twilight, the fire is choked by the ashes of the very fuel that once nourished it, shifting the scale of decline from the macrocosmic to the microcosmic and highlighting the paradoxical nature of life and decay.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structure and progression of the three main metaphors: autumn, twilight, and fire.
Identify that the timeline and scale shrink from seasonal (autumn) to diurnal (twilight) to immediate/internal (fire).
To understand how the figurative language develops the theme of aging and mortality.
2
Examine the specific mechanics of the fire metaphor in lines 9-12.
Recognize that the fire is 'consumed with that which it was nourished by,' meaning it is extinguished by its own ashes.
To contrast this internal, self-consuming process with the external, natural cycles of the previous quatrains.
3
Evaluate the options to find the one that accurately interprets this contrast.
The correct option correctly contrasts the internal, self-consuming nature of the fire with the external, cyclic nature of autumn and twilight.
To select the interpretation that best captures the structural and conceptual shift in the poem's figurative language.

Key Concept

Analyzing the function and progression of figurative language in poetry
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Figurative Language Devices

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