Order It: Greeting autumn with Sonnet 73

Last Sunday, September 22, was the northern hemisphere’s “autumnal equinox,” a date on which daylight and darkness are almost equal that marks the start of astronomical autumn. (The spring or vernal equinox, marking the start of astronomical spring in the northern hemisphere, will arrive on March 20. ) Shakespeare uses the word “equinox” in Othello in a backhanded insult, when Iago condemns Cassio’s supposed ‘vice’ of drunkenness after praising his soldierly virtue:

… do but see his vice.
’Tis to his virtue a just equinox,
The one as long as th’ other.

Equinoxes don’t appear by name in Shakespeare’s Sonnets, but he refers to autumn in Sonnet 73, where the writer makes a comparison to “that time of year” when leaves fall from the trees. Try ordering the lines of the Sonnet in this quiz:

Today, Sonnet 73 may be best known for its reference to the “bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang,” which is, among other things, the source of the title for the classic 1976 science fiction novel Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang  by Kate Wilhelm. In the poem, “bare ruined choirs” almost certainly refers to Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries many years earlier. A “choir” is a part of a church set aside for choristers.

If you will be in Washington, DC, this fall, we invite you to join us at the Folger Shakespeare Library to explore our new gardens in autumn, as well as our programming, exhibitions, shop, and other public spaces.