There’s a half-serious saying that all poetry ultimately deals with the same two themes: love and death. There’s a sense in which that’s true, and some of the best poems—like Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73—tackle both themes at once. In a moving depiction of old age and the inevitability of death, Shakespeare seeks consolation in the steadfastness of love, a love that grows deeper as the time for parting (death) approaches.
Intertwined with this contrast between death and love are hints of immortality and renewal, reinforced by religious allusions. Shakespeare shows that love burns brighter when life grows darker and that, in some form, love holds the key to death.
