Shakespeare – Sonnet 116
Where does this poem go?
It is one of the group of poems themed around
LOVE
The others are….
Shakespeare’s Life
• Born 1564, the son of a glover in Stratford Upon Avon.
• He probably started out as an actor but later was mainly a playwright.
• His plays were really successful and they were performed for Queen
Elizabeth the 1st and King James the 1st.
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
• They were probably written in the 1590’s, possibly for a patron.
• There are 154 of them, which sounds a lot but sonnet writing was as
common as having facebook is today. Writing poems to people you knew
was as normal as a wall-post is today.
• The poems deal with big issues such as love, mortality and time. But
most of them (like this one) seem to be written about relationships.
So what is a sonnet?
•A fourteen line poem.
•Normally a six line section, then a twist which develops in an
eight line section.
•Sometimes this twist is called the question and the answer, or
the argument and the answer.
•A rhyming couplet at the end which sums up the message.
•Written in iambic pentameter – ten syllable lines.
The Difficult Language…
The first thing you might notice is that the language seems quite tricky
at first. That can leave people feeling this poem is really hard. But…
•Don’t panic!
•Most of the words are the same as today
– they’re just a different spelling.
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Translating the text…
Write these translations onto your papers now to help
you…
Impediments = Problems
Ever-fixed = Never ending
Tempests = Storms (real and emotional)
Bark = Boat OR Person.
Compass = Range
First Line – to the first full-stop.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
• Look at the language of love from the start – ‘marriage’ and ‘true’.
What is the image he trying to create?
• Why does he say he won’t admit impediments?
• = Don’t let problems break up true love.
From the middle of line two…
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
• Look at the repetitions here – why does Shakespeare use them?
• What won’t love do?
• = Love doesn’t move or bend when it hits
obstacles.
Lines 4 - 8
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
• Look at the dramatic use of the exclamation mark – why is this placed
here?
• What set of images is Shakespeare deploying here?
• = Love is a mark (in time) which never
goes away. It acts as a constant guide to
navigate through life, just like sailors use
the stars to find their way.
Lines 8-12
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
• Look at the imagery of time – what is Shakespeare’s message here.
• How long will love last according to Shakespeare?
• = Love doesn’t get destroyed by time – in
fact it lasts for ever.
Lines 12 - 14
If this be error and upon me proved
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
• This couplet is designed to be the final word – or the message – of the poem.
• What is that message?
• What technique is Shakespeare employing here (there may be more than one.)
• Paradox…
• = If it isn’t true then this poem was never written
and no one ever loved.