William Shakespeare’s

Sonnet 116“Let me not to the

marriage of true minds”

Full text1. Let me not to the marriage of true minds2. Admit impediments. Love is not love3. Which alters when it alteration finds,4. Or bends with the remover to remove:5. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark6. That looks on tempests and is never shaken;7. It is the star to every wandering bark,8. Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.9. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks10. Within his bending sickle's compass come:11. Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,12. But bears it out even to the edge of doom.13. If this be error and upon me proved,14. I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

What is a sonnet? A poem of 14 lines.

There are two types:The Italian/Petrarchan sonnet:

A sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme abba abba, followed by a sestet with the

rhyme scheme: cdecde or cdcdcd

Shakespearean/Elizabethan sonnet:A sonnet consisting of three quatrains (four lines each) and a rhyming couplet with the rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

Line 1 - 2

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments.

• The speaker says he would not like to prevent the marriage of people who’s minds are true to each other.

• Links to the traditional church ceremony when the congregation is asked if they know of any reason why the couple should not be joined.

Line 2 - 4

Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,Or bends with the remover to remove:

• If a person’s love changes whenever there is the slightest chance or is so easily removed – then that is not true love.

• Love should not be affected by outside forces such as “alteration” or “removers”

Line 5 - 6

O no! it is an ever-fixed markThat looks on tempests and is never shaken;

• The poet now describes the qualities of love as being a permanent emotion. – The speaker uses the metaphor of love being a

“ever-fixed mark” which can face “tempests” (storms) and remain unmoved.

Exclamation mark indicates a strong

reaction.

Line 7 - 8It is the star to every wandering bark,Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

• Line 7 makes reference to sailing. Early sailors used stars to navigate the ocean.– “the star” = The North Star – “wandering bark” = lost ship

• Although a ship’s height and other dimensions can be measured to calculate its “worth” – the reality cannot be known till it is on the water.

• Just like love – it is a constant in the world, but the extent of love between two people can never be measured.

Line 9 - 10

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeksWithin his bending sickle's compass come:

• Love is not affected by time even though the physical features of beauty “rosy lips and cheeks” are all destroyed by time.

• “his bending sickle” – introduces the ideaof death and personifies death as a man

Time – given importance by the

capital letter.

Line 11 - 12

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

• Love does not change over time – it stands firm for all eternity.– Hours and weeks seem like a lot of time as we go

about our daily lives – but in the context of Time – it is brief (short).

Refers to Time again

Line 13 – 14: The rhyming couplet

If this be error and upon me proved,I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

• The speaker (Shakespeare himself) says that if he is wrong about love then– nothing he has written is real and– nobody has ever been truly in love.

• Seeing as both the above are obviously untrue, then Shakespeare is proved correct about love.

Summary: • Sonnet 116 is about love in its most ideal form. It

praises lovers who have come to each other freely, and enter into a relationship based on trust and understanding.

• The first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure in love that is constant and strong, and will not "alter when it alteration finds."

• The following lines proclaim that true love is indeed an "ever-fix'd mark" which will survive any crisis.

• In lines 7-8, the poet claims that we may be able to measure love to some degree, but this does not mean we fully understand it.

• Love's actual worth cannot be known – it remains a mystery.

• The remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12), confirms the perfect nature of love that is unaffected throughout time and remains so "ev'n to the edge of doom", or death.

• In the final couplet, the poet declares that, if he is mistaken about the constant, unmovable nature of perfect love, then he must take back all his writings on love, truth, and faith.

• Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact judged love inappropriately, no man has ever really loved, in the ideal sense that the poet professes.