Rhyme in Sonnet 73

There is a notable rim rhyme between “love” and “leave,” a play of sound which underscores the necessary relationship between the two. To love requires one to eventually leave the beloved. That the rhyme falls on two of the line’s stresses deepens the echo.

The dense consonant sounds in “Death’s second self” causes the poem’s pace to slow down. The consonant clusters, such as ths, nd, and lf are difficult to pronounce, as are the successive s sounds between the first two words. This deceleration cleverly imitates the process of aging and dying.