Age and Youth by William ShakespeareThe poem "Age and Youth", by William Shakespeare (born 26 April 1564 – died 23 April 1616) is one of his profound poems published in 1588. It is part of a collection of several poems in "The Passionate Pilgrim", "Age and Youth are Number XII". These various poems focus on the ideas of the early and late stages of life. In particular, however, his one-sided perception on the two topics. “Youth” is considered the most favorable and several lines throughout the poem show this bias. "Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold." “Youth like the brave summer, age like the naked winter” Indeed the entire poem is centered on the aforementioned topic (youth) which is more beautiful and aesthetically pleasing than the sterile and cold “old age”. Shakespeare's themes in this particular poem are no different from many of the others in "The Passionate Pilgrim", the set of poems from which "age and youth" originates, with conventional themes such as love and beauty and related motifs of time and changeability. Being a "continuation" of the previous poems in "The Passionate Pilgrim", it connects to the theme of directing love and praise not to a woman but instead to a young man full of youth and vitality. "Venus, with young Adonis sitting beside her Under a shade of myrtle, began to woo him"The passionate pilgrim mainly on the themes previously exposed (youth and age) but with respect to the young man in the previous poems of "The Passionate Pilgrim". In fact the young man is immortalized by poetry thus challenging the destructiveness of time. This is one of the reasons behind this... middle of paper......."Old, I hate you; youth, I adore you." It is uplifting and gives the atmosphere a certain flavor due to the alliteration used. In short, the most focal and constant theme in the poem is the reluctance to grow old and the negative aspects of old age. "Old, I hate you; youth, I adore you." Youth is so vibrant and lively, a stark comparison to old age, an idea that Shakespeare stubbornly clings to. "The age, I challenge you: O sweet shepherd, come to you." The melancholic atmosphere of the poem expresses Shakespeare's thoughtful sadness about aging and the inevitability of life and death. The poetic techniques effectively contrast how wonderful youth is and how boring and dreary we become as we grow older. “Youth” is consistently described as that of a young man while “age” is that of a “lame” old man almost dying, “breathing short"".