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Understanding Sonnet 116: True Love

This sonnet by William Shakespeare defines true love as eternal and unchanging. In the first quatrain, the speaker says true love does not change with circumstances and remains fixed. The second quatrain compares love to a guiding star that remains steady despite storms. The third quatrain asserts that love is not affected by time, though beauty fades. The couplet declares that if love can be proven changeable, then the speaker has never experienced or written about love. In summarizing the central theme, true love is presented as an ideal that never alters and withstands all tests of time.

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Alexander Quemada
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110 views3 pages

Understanding Sonnet 116: True Love

This sonnet by William Shakespeare defines true love as eternal and unchanging. In the first quatrain, the speaker says true love does not change with circumstances and remains fixed. The second quatrain compares love to a guiding star that remains steady despite storms. The third quatrain asserts that love is not affected by time, though beauty fades. The couplet declares that if love can be proven changeable, then the speaker has never experienced or written about love. In summarizing the central theme, true love is presented as an ideal that never alters and withstands all tests of time.

Uploaded by

Alexander Quemada
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

SONNET 116

By William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds


Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds, 4 Lines called “Quatrain”

Or bends with the remover to remove.


 
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark, 4 Lines called “Quatrain”
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
 
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, 4 Lines called “Quatrain”
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
 
If this be error and upon me prov’d, 2 Lines called “Couplet”
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

Modern Text of Sonnet 116 (Interpretation)


May I never stand in the way of two people who are truly in love.
Love is not true love
Which changes whenever an issue comes up
Or ends when the beloved disappears.
 
No, it is a permanent thing
That goes through wild storms and is never shaken.
It is the constant North Star used as a guide by all lost ships,
Whose value is immeasurable, although is often taken for granted.
 
Love is not dependent on time, though your youthful rosy lips and cheeks
Are inevitably affected by the cruel effect of time,
Love alters not with over the course of a few brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the end of the world!
 
If this is wrong and you can prove otherwise,
I have never written anything of value, and no one ever truly loved.
Theme of Sonnet 116
The central idea of sonnet 116 is that true love remains unchanged and unaffected, no matter
what happens. It does not fade away with time, nor is it affected by distance. It shall remain
alive
in the heart for as long as it is beating.

Summary of Sonnet 116


This sonnet attempts to define love, by telling both what it is and is not. In the first quatrain,
the speaker says that love—”the marriage of true minds”—is perfect and unchanging; it does
not “admit impediments,” and it does not change when it find changes in the loved one. In the
second quatrain, the speaker tells what love is through a metaphor: a guiding star to lost ships
(“wand’ring barks”) that is not susceptible to storms (it “looks on tempests and is never
shaken”). In the third quatrain, the speaker again describes what love is not: it is not susceptible
to time. Though beauty fades in time as rosy lips and cheeks come within “his bending sickle’s
compass,” love does not change with hours and weeks: instead, it “bears it out ev’n to the edge
of doom.” In the couplet, the speaker attests to his certainty that love is as he says: if his
statements can be proved to be error, he declares, he must never have written a word, and no
man can ever have been in love.

Essentially, this sonnet presents the extreme ideal of romantic love: it never changes, it never
fades, it outlasts death and admits no flaw. What is more, it insists that this ideal is the only
love that can be called “true”—if love is mortal, changing, or impermanent, the speaker writes,
then no man ever loved. The basic division of this poem’s argument into the various parts of the
sonnet form is extremely simple: the first quatrain says what love is not (changeable), the
second quatrain says what it is (a fixed guiding star unshaken by tempests), the third quatrain
says more specifically what it is not (“time’s fool”—that is, subject to change in the passage of
time), and the couplet announces the speaker’s certainty. 

Definition of a Sonnet?
The word “sonnet” came from an Italian word “Sonetto“. It means “a little song”. A sonnet is a
short poem of 14 lines. The basic theme of sonnet revolves around love and emotions. It is a
perfect poetic style for expressing a single idea or thought. In this literary genre, poets attribute
special love and feelings to their beloved. During old literature, mostly poets were court poet.
Their writings were on topics like, knights, heroes, legends, and kings but this was a unique
change in history of literature when poets started writing to attributes their beloveds. .  More
precisely, it originated in Italy from Dante Alighieri. He wrote number of sonnets for his
beloved, named Beatrice.

Definition of Sonnet in Oxford Dictionary: “a poem that has 14 lines, each containing 10
syllables, and a fixed pattern of rhyme” 
Iambic Pentameter
Iambic Pentameter is a style of writing in poetry where each line is five feet long. Each feet
contains two syllable, one is stressed and second in unstressed. In simple way each line carry
ten syllables: five stressed and five unstressed. Look at the example:

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”


(Shall+I) (com+par) (Thee+to) (a+ sum) (mer’s+day)

Who is William Shakespeare?


William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor widely regarded as
one of the greatest writers in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He
wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other poems, during
his career which spanned over two decades in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Shakespeare's plays are still widely performed and studied today and have been translated into
every major living language. They cover a range of genres, including tragedy, comedy, history,
and romance. Some of his most famous works include "Romeo and Juliet," "Hamlet,"
"Macbeth," "Othello," and "King Lear."

While much is known about his plays and their impact, much less is known about his personal
life. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and he spent most of
his career in London, where he became a successful actor, writer, and businessman. He was
married to Anne Hathaway and had three children, but little else is known about his personal
life.

Common questions

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The theme of Sonnet 116, emphasizing the constancy and resilience of true love, reflects Shakespeare's broader views on love as seen across his body of work. In his plays, such as "Romeo and Juliet," love is often depicted as an enduring force that persists despite adversity, suggesting that genuine love transcends temporal and physical challenges .

In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare uses personification and metaphor to emphasize love's independence from "Time." By personifying time and its "bending sickle," he illustrates its inevitable effect on physical beauty while contrasting this with love's permanence. Metaphors like the "ever-fixed mark" further underscore love's constancy and resilience against temporal changes .

The sonnet form, with its 14 lines divided into three quatrains and a final couplet, allows Shakespeare to systematically explore the theme of true love by negating what it is not and affirming what it is. This structured argument culminates in the couplet, reinforcing the claim that true love is eternal and unalterable .

The statement serves a rhetorical function by presenting a challenge to the reader, asserting the speaker's confidence in his depiction of love. It effectively uses hyperbole to emphasize certainty, suggesting that denying the described ideal of steadfast love would negate the existence of both true love and the validity of Shakespeare's own literary contributions .

The couplet in Sonnet 116 serves as a conclusion by asserting the speaker's conviction in the ideas presented. It summarises the argument by declaring that if his ideas about true love being unwavering are incorrect, then nothing he has written holds any truth and no one has ever experienced real love .

Shakespeare's use of elevated language and poetic devices in Sonnet 116, such as metaphors and personification, create a sense of idealism around romantic love. By likening love to a "fixed mark" and a "constant star," he emphasizes its unmoving, guiding, and eternal qualities, thus elevating the concept of romantic love to an unattainable ideal .

In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare uses the metaphor of a "constant North Star" to describe the steadfastness of true love, which remains unmoved despite challenges and serves as a guide for lost ships .

The statement 'Love is not Time’s fool' implies that true love transcends the temporal changes and ravages of time. Unlike beauty, which fades over time, true love remains constant and unaffected by the passage of time, reinforcing the idea that true love is eternal and unchanging .

Shakespeare redefines love in Sonnet 116 by emphasizing its unchanging and eternal nature, contrary to traditional views that might allow for love to alter or fade due to external circumstances. He argues that true love is not influenced by time, beauty, or adversity, and remains constant till the end of time .

In the context of Sonnet 116, the phrase 'ever-fixed mark' symbolizes the unchanging and steadfast nature of true love. It represents love's ability to remain constant and unshaken by external tempests, highlighting its reliability and permanence .

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