The Sonnet 116 is another well-known 'Shakespearian Sonnet' written by William Shakespeare. This poem is written in alternative ways, presenting Shakespeare's definitions of love. This sonnet is divided into three quadrants, each with four lines, and a closing rhyming couplet. Each quadrant describes a different aspect of love.
The rhyming couplet gives the poem a perfect ending and a bit of a conclusion. There is use of enjambment, metaphor and personification throughout the poem to make it sound emotionally powerful and to give the reader some idea of the message that the poet was trying to get though.In the first stanza, the poet explains the qualities of love. He also explains what love is and what it isn't. He says that love is a commitment and bonding between two true minds. It is a marriage with trust and honesty, which does not and should not admit impediments.
The writer uses the phrase "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds" implying that love doesn't allow any obstacles to come on its path and change it. "Or bends with the remover to remover" explains that love cannot be removed by anything. In this quadrant, Shakespeare uses enjambment in order to keep the rhythm, at which he wrote the poem, constant.The four lines in this stanza have a rhyme of "a, b, a, b", where 'a' rhymes with its corresponding 'a' and the same with 'b'.
In the following Stanza, the poet compares love with various objects. He states that love is an ever-fixed mark, which cannot be erased. "That looks on the tempest and is never shaken"; here, the poet uses metaphor in order to create comparison between life circumstances and a tempest. He is saying that even when life is at its worst state, love is not traumatized.
The poet is implying that if two people really love each other, he is certain that they will survive through rough situations.Again, Shakespeare uses metaphor to compare love with a "star" and a person with a "bark". "It is a star to every wondering bark," means that love is a fixed, bright and positive part of life that is always there to guide those who are lost. It will always be there no matter what the circumstances are. Once again, the poet has used a rhyming scheme similar in structure to that of the first stanza: 'c, d, c, d', where 'c' and 'd' occur after one another. In the final quadrant, Shakespeare makes it clear that time does not affect love.
Again, he uses run-on lines to keep the rhythm of the poem at a constant phase. Love's not time's fool, though rosy cheeks and lips Within his bending sickle's compass came" The writer used personification on the above two lines as well as enjambment. He gave "time" human qualities, as humans can be fooled. But in this case, he says that love cannot be fooled with anything, even if the beauty of a person is lost. "Love alters not with brief hours and weeks, But bears it out until the edge of doom".
By this, Shakespeare means that love does not change with time at all. It will remain to be the same powerful and optimistic feeling, for perpetuity.He implies that time does not affect love whatsoever. Once again, the poet used a similar rhyming structure to those of the first two quadrants: "e, f, e, f".
The rhyming couplets give a good ending to the poem. "If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved". Shakespeare's confident that what he's written about love is entirely accurate. He stated that if he's proved wrong, then he has never written nor any man has ever loved. He has written before and men have loved before, demonstrating how certain he is in his definition on love.I think this poem is really emotional and quite fascinating.
The archaic language used makes the poem very gripping and makes the reader think a lot about what is written. It has very interesting facts about love. Although looking at the world today, I don't agree with some of them. This may have been true back then when this poem was written. I don't believe that Shakespeare had truly been in love, at least up to the point where he has written this poem.
I suppose the qualities of love he described are what he had hoped to find when he falls in love. To me, this poem is not about love, but about more about lust.
