Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
This poem by William Shakespeare is about love in its most prestige form. He says that love
bends but is forever constant. Love is a belief in which guides our lives. No one has a value on
love, but we take love to its limit. Love does not falter in time, but lasts until the end, through
hard times. He concludes by saying that if misjudged the meaning and value of love, then he
takes back his writings and that no one has ever loved.
Quoted text
Analysis
Let me not to the marriage of true minds I don’t see any reasons why two pure people
Admit impediments. Love is not love Can not get married. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds, Which changes with certain situations,
Or bends with the remover to remove: Or eases from its firm stand even when a lover is
unfaithful:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark Love is a guide like a lighthouse
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; That sees storms but it never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark, Love is the guiding north star to every lost ship,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be Whose value is unknown, but it can be estimated.
taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Love doesn’t change with time, though physical
beauty
Within his bending sickle's compass come: Comes within the range of death.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, Love does not alter with hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. But, rather, it endures hardships.
If this be error and upon me proved, If I am proved wrong about these thoughts on love
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. Then I take back my works, and no man has ever
truly loved.
Literary Devices
Alliteration: “Although HIS HEIGHT be taken” He uses alliteration for flow in the poem.
Repetition: “Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove”
Repetition is used here too really get his point across which is love is constant within people but
changes in certain situations.
Metaphor: “It is the star to ever wandering bark” He is comparing love to the guiding star, Polaris,
saying that love guides lost people in a way similar to Polaris guiding lost ships.
Symbol: “Rosy lips and cheeks” Symbolizes a girl whom one might be in love with
Synecdoche: “wandering bark” is referring to a ship. This is used to help people remember what they
are talking about. Gives the poem the certain flow/pattern of a sonnet
Personification: “Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks” He is personifying
love, giving it a human characteristic. This makes his main idea, love, stand out.
Sonnet: a poem in complete thought of 14 lines consisting of 3 quatrains and concluding with a
couplet, following iambic pentameter.
The tone is Sonnet 116 is characterized as reflective. He wrote this poem by reflecting on what
he has experienced with love. He used his memories to analyze love in a manner that suggests he
has an attitude of “been there, done that”. He even concludes by stating if he is wrong, he takes
back all of his work on love and that no one experienced true love.
The theme of Sonnet 116 is that love is constant and an unstoppable force of nature.
Shakespeare claims that love withstands every situation and is the only constant in our world.
Shakespeare views love optimistically in this sonnet, and conveys love as timeless, even in
today’s society.
Results: After thoroughly researching Sonnet 116, I have discovered that my theme was a little
off in that love alters to every situation. Love is our only constant and only changes when loved
ones change. Also, hopefully the literary content above is sufficient in explanation, content, and
examples. Some of my analysis of the lines were incorrect originally but are fixed in the side by
side comparison above.
Mabillard, Amanda. An Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. Shakespeare Online. 2000.
Web. 11 Dec 2012
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Sonnet 116 Theme of Love" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University,
Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.