MaryAnn,

There is much in this sonnet that is hidden. The surface meaning is clear enough. It is a poem of
mourning.

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

We can tell who is being mourned only if we know that line 12 is a translation of a Latin phrase that was Christopher Marlowe's family motto. Line 3 tells us that it is "Shake" himself who mourns. When your friend and rival is killed by the Queen's spies, it can be harmful to one's health to speak too openly.

The longevity of Shakespeare's sonnets is due to the years of revision and layers of meanings he manages with simple language.

NS