SONNET 97 PARAPHRASE

How like a winter hath my It is been like a winter during

absence been my absence
From thee, the pleasure of the from you, the 'joy' of time
fleeting year! flying!
What freezings have I felt, what What cold and dark days I have
dark days seen, lived through,
What old December's bareness what ubiquitous barrenness of
everywhere! December!
And yet this time removed was And yet when I was away from
summer's time, you was during the summer,
The teeming autumn, big with and Fall with its plentiful
rich increase, harvest
Bearing the wanton burden of the bearing the lustful birth of
prime Spring(prime)
Like widow'd wombs after their like the wombs of widows after
lords' decease. the death of their husbands.
Yet this abundant issue seemed to Yet this 'child' seems to me
me
But hope of orphans, and like an orphan without a father,
unfathered fruit,
For summer and his pleasures for the pleasures of summer are
wait on thee, with you,
And, thou away, the very birds are but, with your absence, the
mute, birds don't sing,
Or if they sing, 'tis with so dull a or if they do, do so listlessly
cheer
That leaves look pale, dreading and the leaves are colorless, as if
the winter's near. dreading the coming winter.

NN

NOTES:
1)Freezings- cold
2) ubiquitous- old
3) rich increase- plentiful harvest
4) thee- you
5) mute- don’t sing
6) colorless- look pale

 Reference:
There are 14 rhyming lines in this sonnet.
Each line has 10 or 11 syllables, arranged in (about) five iambic feet (“da - DUM”)
The sonnet as a whole presents two contrasting ideas, or two perspectives on one
idea
Idea #1 is usually presented in the first 12 lines of the sonnet (comprising 3
quatrains)
Idea #2 is usually presented in the final 2 lines of the sonnet (a couplet)
The rhyme scheme goes like this:
First quatrain: A B A B
Second quatrain: C D C D
Third quatrain: E F E F
Couplet: G G
1. How like a winter hath my absence been
a winter - to a large extent the seasonal descriptions here are metaphoric,
illustrative of the soul's dark winter, but using the imagery of an actual
winter to enhance the effect. 
absence = separation, time of being away.
3. What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
Because of his separation from his beloved, he has felt the days to be freezing and
dark, like winter days. His soul is frostbitten and plunged in the darkness of winter.
4. What old December's bareness everywhere!
old December - probably suggested by the fact that the year was considered old by
the time the last months came round. We still see out the old year, and let in the
new.
5. And yet this time removed was summer's time;
this time removed = the time which has only recently passed, (in which you and I
were separated). A time separated from the present time 13. Or, if they sing, 'tis
with so dull a cheer,
'tis with so dull a cheer = they sing in such dull, drab and gloomy tones. Originally
cheer meant face, then expression of the face. Hence disposition, frame of mind.
14. That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.
leaves look pale = the leaves turn pale with fear, knowing that they must soon fall
off and die. The suggestion is of a premature winter, which will strip the trees bare,
and return to the bareness and barrenness of 'old December'.
the winter's near = that the winter is near. Possibly 'the nearness of winter'.
Summary:
The poet begins a new sequence of sonnets, written in his absence from the youth
during the summer and autumn months, although the first image in Sonnet 97 is of
winter. The previous positions of the young man and the poet are now reversed,
and it is the poet who apologizes for repudiating the relationship by associating
with other friends.
When the friend is away, then whatever the true season, it is like barren winter for
the poet. Even summer becomes winter, "For summer and his pleasures wait on
thee, / And, thou away, the very birds are mute." The image of winter, symbolizing
both physical and emotional "freezings," unites the sonnet, which begins and ends
with the poet lamenting being alone. In my opinion in this sonnet Shakespeare
tried to explain a real friend ,for example when he had gone everywhere became
dark ,in addition even summer became winter.Morever while his friend was away
the birds didn’t also sing a song.All in all, this sonnet devoted to his friend and he
described what would happen if his friend went out.