The Facts of “Sonnet 73” by Shakespeare

Provide your response to “Sonnet 73” by Shakespeare regarding the poem’s facts.

What image does the poet focus on in the first quatrain? What relationship does this image have to the speaker? The speaker shifts to another image in the second quatrain. What is it, and what relationship does it bear to him? Yet another image is introduced in the third quatrain. What is the image, and how does it relate to the speaker? What is a rather complex philosophical paradox involved? The final couplet states the poet’s thesis (or theme). What is that thesis? State it in your own words.