Mathematical Death

"When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang... As after sunset fadeth in the west... That on the ashes of his youth doth lie" (lines 2, 6, and 10)

"That time of year" by William Shakespeare is another sonnet that bases it's meaning around a recognizable pattern. The pattern is focused around three quatrains. Sonnets are poems of fourteen lines, but in Shakespeare's the last two lines are separated from the above twelve. From there, the first twelve lines are divided into the three quatrains. In this particular poem, each quatrain is centered around a different image.

Each of the different lines above conveys a different image about death, ending, leaving, or a general departure of any kind. The first is about the turn of season. The death of nature and hibernation of life during the winter . The second talks about how the day ends when the sun goes down. Life sleeps while the sun is down. The third image is about how fire consumes life. Death is brought about when fire destroys the living.
This pattern demonstrates Shakespeare's analysis of death and all its different forms. Not until the two lines at the end do we understand how the almost mathematical structure relates to Shakespeare's meaning. The last two lines say how since death is so imminent, we must love before it comes.