Shakespeare's Sonnets, Sonnet 97 summary
Sonnet 97 of 154 · 1 min to read the scene
In Sonnet 97, the speaker describes separation from the person addressed as a bitter winter, although the actual seasons are summer and fruitful autumn. Rich harvests seem fatherless, and birds seem silent or joyless, showing how absence changes the speaker’s experience of the natural world.
What happens
- The speaker compares absence from the person addressed to winter, with cold, darkness, and December barrenness.
- The speaker acknowledges that the separation actually takes place during summer and harvest-rich autumn.
- Autumn’s abundance resembles children carried by women whose husbands have died, making growth seem fatherless.
- The speaker makes summer’s pleasures depend on the absent person, so birds seem silent or their songs joyless.
- Pale leaves appear to fear winter’s approach.
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In this scene
Quick check
Which seasons actually pass during the speaker’s separation?
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