Sonnet 97
How like a winter hath my absence been
absence
seasons
melancholy
longing
How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness every where!
And yet this time removed was summer's time,
The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,
Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease:
Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me
But hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit;
For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,
And, thou away, the very birds are mute;
Or, if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.
What It Means
The separation from the young man has felt like winter, even though Shakespeare was away during summer and autumn. The summer held no pleasure — it was just a teeming period without the thing that makes teeming meaningful. Even the birds' singing felt like orphaned notes, written for a joy that wasn't there. The final lines are melancholy: the autumn was rich in fruit but Shakespeare only felt the fear of winter coming.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. A pair with Sonnet 98, both about being separated from the young man while nature's seasons continue without them.
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