Sonnet 116

• sonnet (form)

  14 line

  romantic view

  3 quatrains with a concluding rhyming couplet (like a conclusion which summarises and fights for his message)
• the different rhyme schemes in each stanza and what they mean?

  ABAD - constancy of love

  CDCD - guidance of love

  EFEF - longevity of love

  GG - volta/final argument
• iambic pen

  constancy and remanence of love
• compare to

  my last duchess (contrasting view)

  la belle (unhealthy/obsessive love)

  remember (challenges of love)
• comparing to my last duchess

  the duke moves on, but Shakespeare states love is eternal. the duke is not humble and is very assertive/commanding.
• how does shakespeare write and why?

  self confidently to endorse his opinion
• what does shakespeare write about/his main message?

  he presents an almost unobtainable definiton of true love and emphasises the universal concept of love and its everlasting/loyal nature.
• Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

  sonnet - traditional poem
• Let me not to the marriage of true minds

  repetition of the title

  begins with the negative definition, what love is not.

  true minds - connotes the intellectual capability of partners and a more spiritual and mental connection. and Shakespeare refers to TRUE love.
• Admit impediments; love is not love

  impediments (a polite word to use) = barriers and the semi colon/caesura is a barrier

  allusion to objections at weddings. if it is true love there should be no objections.
• Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove

  polyptoton (remove/alter), the same root word showing that love remains constant and does not change.

  alter - small change

  bends - love does not change people and does not compromise an individuals identity. love is instead accepting of all people
• O no, it is an ever-fixed mark

  love is reliable, permanent, secure and constant. Shakespeare begins to use a metaphorical definition.
• That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

  Tempest - storm / metaphor for things that challenge relationship and difficult periods of life.
• It is the star to every wandering bark,

  wandering- Metaphor for ship with no sense of direction, love can guide and illuminate your path when you are unsure, routelesness when there is no sense of purpose/direction. like a light house for lost ships
• Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

  metaphorical definition for love continued. the priceless and valuable aspect of love. it is unquantifiable and invaluable (it cannot be measured) which makes it difficult to explain.
• Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

  love and time are personified and capitalised - love is not determined by time or aging.

  colour imagery - signs of vitality and physical beauty.

  beauty is attacked by time but love is not, love is an emotional connection and is not superficial.

  enjambment - visually demonstrates time passing and adds a stream of consciousness.
• Within his bending sickle's compass come;

  Shakespeare is being frank/honest. the sickle is associated with death and the transience of life. even if the person ages and dies, the love is still eternal.
• Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

  love is triumphant over time, repetition of alters, emphasising the longevity of love. love stays. the briefness of life contrasts the longevity of love.
• But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

  the double plosive, love is strong/powerful/goes the distance. it is sincere and authentic. it remains beyond death.
• If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

  rhyming couplet - he has full conviction in this definition. there is very certain language, he challenges the readers and strongly believes in what he has written. 'I never writ' - opposite of fact as Shakespeare is and was a renowned writer.
• use of monosyllabic phrases and negative definitions

  it is complex to define.
• tone of the beginning

  the tone is cautious as love is a universal yet delicate concept but he goes on to challenge peoples ideas of love.