Death and Winter

In the poem, "That Time of year" by William Shakespeare is a metaphor for death. In the poem, the speaker talks about how after the sunset fades in the west, dark takes over by night. This is a metaphor of how death is taking over the speaker's life just like how darkness is taking over the land. At the same time, the speaker is not talking of a literal death. Instead, he is talking about the death of youthfulness. For, he says "That on the ashes of his youth doth lie", meaning he is lying by the lying flame of his youth. At the end of the poem, the speaker talks of how since he is giving up his youthfull bliss, it causes him to love it that much more. This is kind of a case of you don't know what you have 'til it's gone.