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In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare explores the unalterable nature of true love. Through metaphors and poetic devices, he emphasizes love's constancy and resilience in the face of time and challenges. This sonnet challenges conventional notions of love and asserts its enduring power.
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William Shakespeare Sonnet 116 Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
What is the poet saying? • Quatrain 1 • Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,Or bends with the remover to remove. Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Quatrain 1 • Metaphor • Comparing love to the “marriage of true minds” • This marriage will not and cannot admit to impediments or flaws. Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Quatrain 1 • Definition of love • Defined in the negative • “Love is not love” • Love doesn’t alter or bend when things oppose it. Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Quatrain 2 • Oh no! It is an ever-fixéd markThat looks on tempests and is never shaken.It is the star to every wandering bark,Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Quatrain 2 • Metaphor • Comparing love to the “ever-fixed mark” • A prominent object on shore that serves as a guide to sailors • Comparing love to “the star to every wandering bark” • The North Star • Never changing • Constant Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Quatrain 3 • Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeksWithin 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. Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Quatrain 3 • Consistency and unbending nature of love • Love is a constant • It is influenced by nothing, even death • “Time’s fool” • Personification • Death Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Couplet • If this be error and upon me proved,I never writ, nor no man ever loved. • Turn occurs after line 13. • If the poet is wrong about his definition of love, then he has never written and no one has ever loved. Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
How does he go about saying it? • Poetic Devices • Shakespearean Sonnet • Rhyme Scheme • ababcdcdefefgg • 3 quatrains and 1 couplet Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Meter • ᴗ ´ ᴗ ´ ᴗ ´ ᴗ ´ ᴗ ´ • Oh no! It is an ever fixéd mark • Iambic Pentameter Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Metaphor • Comparing love to things that remain constant • Seamark • North Star Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Imagery • Nautical Imagery • “ever-fixed mark” • “tempests” • “wandering bark” • “star” • “his height be taken” Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Personification • “Love’s not Time’s fool…/within his bending sickle’s compass come” (9-10) • Time is personified as the grim reaper Geschke/British Literature Shakespeare Sonnet 116