Sonnet 116

• Mainly a philosophical reflection on the nature of true love.

• A supremely confident tone.

• May refer to married love

• Or a faithful loving friendship

• Or both?

1 - 4

• I would not admit that anything could interfere with the union of two people who truly love each other.

• Love that alters with changing circumstances is not love,• Nor if it bends from its firm state when someone tries to destroy it.

5 - 8

•Oh no, it’s an eternally fixed point that watches storms but is never itself shaken by them.

•It is the star by which every lost ship can be guided:

•one can calculate it’s distance but never know its worth.

9 - 12

• Love doesn’t depend on Time, although the rosy lips and cheeks of youth eventually come within the compass of Time’s sickle.

• Love doesn’t alter as the days and weeks go by but endures until death.

• If this is all a mistake and I can be proved wrong

• then I’ve never written anything and no man has ever loved.

13 - 14

Points to note

• Opening line refers to the words of an anglican marriage service• A series of negative definitions stating what love is not 1 – 4• A powerful exclamation in line 5 – “Oh no!” followed by a series of positive

metaphors defining love.• A range of powerful statements…it is “ever fixed…never shaken…the star to

every wandering bark” (lost ship). • Note the maritime imagery. The star guides, gives direction, assures safety.

This is what true love does!• The sestet returns to negative definitions; love is not subject to time - although

youth and beauty may be (note the personification of time as the reaper once more). Love endures (the ravages of time) till death itsel!

• The speaker ends with a remarkable statement. If I’m wrong about all this then I’ve never written anything and no has ever loved anyone else!

• Obviously he has written and obviously people have loved each other…therefore his point is ‘self proving’ so to speak. So, an enormously confident ending.

Mechanics etc…

• Alliteration “me…marriage…minds”• “love…love”• “remover…remove”• “compass come”• Assonance “Admit impediments…is / …it…love….love”• “alters…alteration”• “remover…remove”• “star…bark”• “unknown…although”• Personification of time as the reaper.• Use of the “tempests” as a metaphor for the storms of life.• Use of “the star” as a metaphor for direction, surity, safety…love halps you

navigate safely through the sometimes stormy waters of life.