Sonnet 116
Let me not the the marriage of true minds
1.Let me not to the marriage of true minds
2.Admit impediments. Love is not love
3.Which alters when alteration finds,
4.Or bends with the remover remove.
5.O, no, it is an ever-fixed mark
6.That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
7.It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
8.Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
9.Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
10.Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
11.Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
12.But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
13.If this be error and upon me proved,
14.I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
SONNET 116 - COMMENTARY
Sonnet 116 is about in its most ideal form. It is the of lovers who have come to each other freely, and enter into a based on trust and understanding.
The first four lines reveal the poet's in love that is and strong, and will not "alter when it alteration finds." The following lines that true love is indeed an "ever-fix'd mark" which will any crisis.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
I hope I may never any reason why minds that truly love each other shouldn't be together
Let me not any reasons why two
True-minded people should not be .
Let me not: may I
The marriage of true minds: The first two lines are a "manifest to the words of the Marriage Service: 'If any of you know or just impediment why these two persons should not be together in holy ; cf. Much Ado 4.1.12. 'If either of you know any inward impediment why you should not be conjoined.' Where minds are true - in possessing love in the sense dwelt upon in the lines - there can be no 'impediments' through change of , outward appearance, or temporary lapses in conduct."
During a marriage ceremony the priest asks:'If any of you know or just impediment why these two persons should not be together in holy
Impediment: problem/obstacle/obstruction
Love is not love
Which alters when alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover remove.
Love isn't really love if it when it sees the beloved change or if it when the beloved leaves.
Love is not love
Which when it finds a change in circumstances,
Or bends from its firm stand even when a lover is :
Alters: change
Love is not love: love is really love
Or bends with the remover remove: i.e., deviates ("bends") to its course ("remove") with the of the lover.
O, no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
Oh no, love is a and light that shines on without being shaken;
Oh no! it is a
That sees storms but it never shaken;
It is an ever-fixed mark: : i.e., a (mark = sea-mark).
Ever-fixed mark: lighthouse
In lines 7-8, the poet claims that we may be able to love to some degree, but this does not mean we fully understand it. Love's actual cannot be known – it remains a .
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
it is the star that guides every boat. And like a star, its is beyond measure, though its height can be .
Love is the north star to every lost ship,
Whose value cannot be calculated, although its altitude can be measured.
It is the star to every wand’ring bark, : i.e., the star that every lost ship (guiding star = Polaris).
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. The subject here is still the north star. The star's true can never truly be , although its height can be .
Bark: boat/ship
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love is not under time's , though time has the power to rosy lips and cheeks.
Love is not at the of Time, though physical
Comes within the compass of his sickle.
Within his bending sickle’s compass come : i.e., physical beauty falls within the range ("compass") of Time's curved blade. Note the comparison of Time to the Grim Reaper, the scythe-wielding of death
Love’s not Time’s fool : i.e., love is not at the of Time.
his: i.e., Time's
The remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12), the perfect nature of that is unshakeable time and remains so "ev'n to the edge of doom", or death.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
Love does not alter with the of brief hours and weeks, but until Doomsday.
Love does not alter with hours and weeks,
But, rather, it until the last day of life.
edge of doom. : i.e., Doomsday.
In the final couplet, the poet that, if he is about the constant, nature of perfect love, then he must take back all his writings on love, truth, and faith. Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact love inappropriately, no man has ever really loved, in the ideal sense that the poet .
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
If I'm wrong this and can be proven wrong, I never wrote, and no ever loved.
If I am proved wrong about these on love
Then I all that I have written, and no man has ever [truly] loved.
If this be error and upon me proved : i.e., proved to be my error.
FIGURES OF SPEECH USED IN THE POEM
Metaphor line 1: true minds Two who love each other and wants to get married is compared with true or honest feelings in their minds
Alliteration line 2: Love is not love. of the letter L
Assonance line 3: Which when alteration finds. Repetition of the letter A.
Metaphor line 5: Love is an ever fixed mark. Love is like a , something that never moves,
Personification line 6: that looks on . A fixed mark cannot look. Look is a human quality and a fixed mark is something dead.
Metaphor line 7: It is the star to every bark. Love is like the star that gives direction to every moving ship.
Personification line 9: Time is personified because it is with a capital letter and as if it is a person
Metaphor line 10: Time is like a bending sickle where the bending sickle refers to the sickle death uses to reap the death.
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