2-16-15

In “Sonnet 73” by William Shakespeare and Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, the authors explain age with time and its effects on people.Throughout sonnet 73, Shakespeare emphasizes his want to be remembered after death so that his second life, a spiritual existence, is alive and present.In Dandelion Wine, Bradbury  shows many elderly people clingng onto their youth as they realize that they may not be who they used to be. Therefore, the people wish to remember and be remembered as their youthful selves as opposed to their barely mobile, older counterparts. The authors wish to state that we must value our youth but not stay in it so that we can be remembered from our legacies. These authors convey that we must leave a legacy to be remembered with the use of youth, process of aging, and death.

The authors employ images of youth to represent a time of wisdom and joy which must be cherished to leave a legacy. Along with “the glowing of such fire,” Shakespeare utilizes “the twilight of such day” and “those boughs which shake against the cold” to represent life and its cycle. This emphasizes the inevitable loss of youth as each depiction is a slow “death” of a cherishable memory. Similarly, Bradbury uses the elderly residents of Greentown to emphasize the importance of youth. For example, while Bill Forester speaks with Helen Loomis about the world, Ms. Loomis says that youth is the “beginning of all wisdom as they say. When you’re seventeen you know everything. When you’re twenty seven, if you still know everything, you’re still seventeen. Bradbury conveys that knowledge is linked with age and that youth is the pinnacle of knowledge. Therefore, both authors convey that youth is valuable for love and knowledge and must be remembered so that our memories can live eternally. Thus, both pieces show the importance of youth to impact others past physical death with memories and previous knowledge.

As well as youth, the pieces both share the use of aging to prove that we still possess youthful properties that are not forgotten but seldom used. For example, through the sonnet, Shakespeare utilizes the changing of seasons with “bare ruined choirs” and the daytime cycle as the sunset that “fadeth in the west” to represent his aging process. Shakespeare explains the slow process of aging which is more though of as the process progresses to show that our image of youth is not completely destroyed but is not as noticed. Similarly, Bradbury employs the encounter of Mrs. Bentley with Alice and Jane believing with no evidence that Mrs. Bentley wasn’t “really ten ever…and [her] name’s not really Helen” to prove that time and age are not thought of by the youth while it is clearly experienced by the older generations. Bradbury emphasizes that time and age are nonexistent to the illogical youth. Therefore, both authors explain that the process of aging does not abandon youthful memories, but instead builds upon them them to form a current self with knowledge and wisdom. Thus, both pieces prove that the process of aging allows us to leave a legacy by our experiences for the later generation to learn from.

The authors utilize death to represent the possible loss of memories and remembrance as the world continues after death. Shakespeare depicts a sunset which “fadeth in the west” and a personification of “Death’s second self that seals up all in rest” to represent the spiritual death of being forgotten. This explains Shakespeare’s fear of being forgotten after death since no one can control the remembrance except himself. Similarly, Bradbury recognizes a second life after physical death with Douglas’ great-grandma’s passing as she assures everyone that “I’m not really dying today… I’ll be around a long time. A thousand years from now, a whole township of my offspring will be biting sour apples in the gumwood shade.” Bradbury, through Douglas’ great-grandma, explains that one lives through the remembrance of their legacy that is passed down through their descendants. Therefore, both authors prove that true death only occurs after one is forgotten. Thus, the pieces prove that one lives through a legacy that is left after their physical death.

Both authors prove the youth, aging, and death all must be remembered for a legacy to be left. As well they prove that you cannot have only youth without aging or death and vice versa. Thus  both utilize youth, age, and death to explain the effects of time on people and their importance to leave a legacy so that one’s presence is not forgotten after physical death.