Abigail Flemming
Period 5
Sonnet 116
1. Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
2. Overview: In general, Sonnet 116 is about the author, William Shakespeare,
adamantly arguing that love does not change. The author also says that people
should not try to change love or interrupt it. Shakespeare also writes that love
prevails through the toughest of times and situations.
Sonnet Lines
Translation
Let me not to the marriage of
true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not
love
Which alters when it alteration
finds,
Or bends with the remover to
remove.
Shakespeare is saying that he thinks that people outside the
relationship should not interfere with it(the relationship/true
love). He also is saying that true love does not change when
the loved one changes or when the loved one leaves, but stays
the same.
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.
The author is saying that love is a permanent feeling and that is
love is firm and is not swayed. Shakespeare also is saying that
love is like a guiding star to a boat and that the stars distance
can be measured, the stars worth cannot be measured.
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.
Love does not change through time but the loved ones
appearance does. Love also does not change is hours or
weeks, but thrives/prevails through the worst.
If this be error and upon me
proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever
loved
Shakespeare is adamantly saying that if he is wrong, that he
never wrote anything and that no man has really ever truly
loved.
4. Literary Devices:
o
Metaphor:
 Quote: “It is the star to every wandering bark”(line 7)
 This quote compares love to a star that guides boats.
By making this comparison Shakespeare is saying that
love is a fixed point by which a person can rely on to
help them through bad times or guide them to the place
he/she wants to be.
o
Personification:
 Quote: “Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be
taken”(line 8)
 The quote personifies love itself by referring to it with
pronouns like “whose” and “his”. Personification is used
to show the importance of love by thinking of it as a
human rather than just a “thing” that has no entity.
5. Tone: The tone of Sonnet 116 can be described as adamant/confident and almost
argumentative. Shakespeare starts the sonnet by saying his belief that love should
not be intruded upon by others and then proceeds to “argue” his side. He also
sounds confident when he says through the couplet that “if this be error...I never writ
nor no man ever loved” because the two things that he states in the last two lines
surely have happened and the sonnet is the very proof.
6. Theme: Sonnet 116’s theme is that, despite what love goes through, if it is true love
then it will prevail and defy time and even death. Love is also something that people
should not interfere with. The entire poem is about how true love defies time and
death by continuing on after the loved ones change or die/go away.
Works Cited
"Theme in Sonnet 116." Theme in Sonnet 116. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/sonnet116/theme.htm
"Sonnet 116 Theme of Love." Shmoop. Shmoop University, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
http://www.shmoop.com/sonnet-116/love-theme.html
Sparknotes Editors. "Sonnets." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/sonnets/sonnet_116.html