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Sonnet 116 Analysis

This sonnet by William Shakespeare discusses the nature of true love. It describes true love as a union of true minds that cannot be altered by any obstacles. Shakespeare compares true love to a lighthouse that remains steadfast despite storms, and the pole star that is always in the same place while other stars rise and set. He asserts that true love is eternal and will survive all tests of time, unlike physical beauty which fades with age. The poem uses powerful metaphors and phrases to portray how true love is permanent and changeless.

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Ana Marie Delos Reyes
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699 views

Sonnet 116 Analysis

This sonnet by William Shakespeare discusses the nature of true love. It describes true love as a union of true minds that cannot be altered by any obstacles. Shakespeare compares true love to a lighthouse that remains steadfast despite storms, and the pole star that is always in the same place while other stars rise and set. He asserts that true love is eternal and will survive all tests of time, unlike physical beauty which fades with age. The poem uses powerful metaphors and phrases to portray how true love is permanent and changeless.

Uploaded by

Ana Marie Delos Reyes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LET ME TO THE MARRIAGE OF

TRUE MINDS (Sonnet 116)


First publication date: 1609
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
William Shakespeare, the Immortal Poet and Dramatist:-
William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest English dramatist and poet.
His plays, written in blank verse with some prose, can be broadly divided into lyric plays ,
comedies, historical plays, and tragedies,. He also wrote numerous sonnets.
Born in Stratford-on-Avon, the son of a wool dealer, he was educated at the
grammar school, and in 1582 married Anne Hathaway. By 1592 Shakespeare was
established in London as an actor and a dramatist, and from 1594 he was an important
member of the Lord Chamberlain's Company of actors. Shakespeare was the leading
playwright of the company and one of its business directors; he also continued to act.
About 1593 he came under the patronage of the Earl of Southampton, to whom he
dedicated his long poems and seems to have dedicated to him his sonnets written around
1593-96. The present sonnet also comes in the same category. The mysterious `Dark
Lady´ also appears in these sonnets. He retired to Stratford about 1610, where he died on
23 April 1616. He was buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity, Stratford.
Theme of the Sonnet-
Shakespeare, here, throws light on the
nature of true love. True love is the union
or fusion of true minds. The poet says that
no obstacle is possible in the meeting of
two hearts. The poet thinks that true love
is permanent and changeless.
What is True Love-
This sonnet is addressed to his friend and patron The Earl of
Southampton. In this sonnet Shakespeare writes about nature of true love,
which is permanent and unchanging. A true lover does not change the object
of love .the poet compares the true love to a light house. A light house is
built on seashore to guide ships. Ships change their course in tempts. They
are violently shaken in tempests but the lighthouse remains ever fixed on its
place . It does not care for storms. Similarly true lovers do not change their
mind even when they face many difficulties. It is not a give and take
relationship. He says –
Oh, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

The poet compares true love to the pole star also. all other stars in the
sky rise and set , appear and disappear but the pole star constantly shines at
the same place. True love is stable and permanent like the pole star-
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken
Eternity of True Love-
The poet differentiates True love from physical
beauty. The physical beauty grows and declines with time
. It is always changing from birth to death. In our old age
we become very ugly. This does happen with true love.
True love is immortal. Time has no control over love .
Time is a great destroyer. It can destroy everything in
nature. It changes beauty and youth into sickness and
ugliness. However time is powerless before love. It does
not grow old and decay. It does not change with hours,
weeks, and even with centuries. The true love survives till
the Dooms Day or the Judgment Day.
Personification-
The poet has personified ‘time’. ‘Time’
is like a reaper with a sickle in his hand .
‘Time’ is cutting the harvest of human
beings with his sickle.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and
cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Metaphors and Similes--
Shakespeare’s sonnets are rich in metaphors
and similes. Marriage of true minds is a
metaphor.. The poet compares it to a lighthouse
which is ever fixed on a seashore. The poet calls
love ‘an ever-fixed mark’. It is not shaken in the
tempests. This is a symbol of changelessness.
Further the poet compares true love to the pole
star ‘It is the star to every wandering bark’. The
pole star is the symbol of permanence.
Powerful Phrases-
Shakespeare coins new words and
phrases in his poems .He is a great coiner
of words we find many new phrases in this
poem. For example- ‘marriage of true
minds’, ‘ever-fixed mark’, ‘Time's fool’, and
‘bending sickle's compass’ etc. These
words are old but their combination is
new.

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