Sonnet 116

• A04:

  Elizabethan sonnet

  Idealisation of love and how love transcends all 'definition of love'

  Written in iambic pentameter

  ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme
• Quote 1:

  'it is the star to every wandring barke
• A02:

  nautical imagery - Elizabethan era ships were heavily guided by stars

  alludes to love's guiding qualities it is a beacon to the heart
• Quote 2:

  'Lov's not Times foole
• A02:

  minor monosyllabic statement accompanied by archaic lexis

  establishes a didactic tone

  exemplifies poem's pristine sense by accentuating true love's permanence in a world that is impermanent
• Quote 3:

  'if this be error...i never writ, nor no man ever loved
• A02:

  structure - Volta reinforces irrefutable claim of what love truly is and what it is not
• A05 +WI:

  Ledger: 'the sonnet is a response to the challenges and conflicts of love'

  by disputing the pre-conceived ideas about love Shakespeare conveys the true nature of it exemplifies significance of Shakespeare's statement as he is willing to go against societal expectations surrounding love to express its true definition
• A03:

  Shakespeare

  'Sonnet 116' was written at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth supported the arts, literature and poetry.

  Shakespeare was also living and working through a time of uncommon peace in terms of politics and wars. People, previous occupied with external turmoil, were for the first time able to begin introspecting and focusing on matters of the heart, perhaps accounting for the new popularity of the sonnet form - a form synonymous with love
• ‘Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds’
• ‘Looks on tempests and is never shaken’ - negative negates the idea that love changes
• ‘Ever fixed marke’- metaphor it endures/withstands all
• ’bears…even to the edge of doom’