A sonnet is a special kind of poetry expression dedicated to the inner workings of the heart and mind. They explore what it implies to give love using a wide range of emotions and various tools. To define true love, William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 first explains what it is not (Lamb, 2019). The poem then moves on to the final couplet, where the protagonist claims that if his claims are wrong, his writing is useless and that no man has ever had love.
Themes
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” featured several of his most well-known subjects. These include relationships, love, and the passage of time. He explores what real love is and if it is fundamental in the quatrains of this sonnet. The poem describes a love that endures through death, never ages, and admits no flaws or fades. Shakespeare’s innermost feelings about love are captured in this poem. This poem’s first section discusses the constant quality of love. In the second stanza, the poet discusses how love is enduring and is compared to a “leading star unshaken by tempests” (Line 6). This poem’s third division makes the case that love’s essence is not affected by the flow of time. This indicates that love is not expected to evolve. This poetry is made simpler by separating sonnet 116 into viewpoints on love. Shakespeare’s message is likewise given impetus through this arrangement.
Lines and Word Analysis
In lines 1-4, the speaker declares up front that there will be no admission of any obstacles to the combination of true minds. Whatever that pursues to undermine the existence of clean love, whether it be a concept or a point of view, is unacceptable. Negative propaganda that is directed against love should not make people fearful. True love does not change when it discovers a better option. In lines 5-8, the first word of the second quatrain is imperative; according to the speaker, love is comparable to a beacon in the sea. It endures storm damage and does not budge under extreme circumstances. Authentic love guides lost hearts in the correct path, much as the North Star points lost ships in stormy seas in the right direction. True love has a value similar to that of the North Star. Even if we learn their heights, the worth of these two cannot be calculated.
In lines 9-12, the speaker acknowledges that people’s external appeal does wane over time. Time will undoubtedly cause the beloved’s pink lips and cheeks to lose their bright hues. However, none of these things are necessary for love. In lines 13-14, the speaker asserts that they are prepared to give up all of their writing if it is determined that the prior arguments were false. Similarly, they are ready to acknowledge that nobody has ever fallen in love.
Poetic Devices
Shakespeare employs several literary techniques in “Sonnet 116,” including personification, caesurae, and alliteration. Alliteration occurs when beginning consonant sounds are reproduced swiftly after one another (Lamb, 2019). Alliteration may be seen in the sonnet when the words “marriage,” “minds,” “wand’ring,” “whose,” and “worth” are used quickly one after the other (Line 9). For instance, the first line might include “marriage” and “minds,” whereas the fourth line might have “remover” and “remove” (Line 10). When poets wish to insert a stop amid a line, they utilize caesurae. An excellent example is the poem’s second line which says, ‘Admit impediments. Love is not love’.
In line eight, there is another illustration which states “Whose value is undetermined, despite their height, has been taken”. The poet’s ” pause ” may be indicated by punctuation or inferred from the metrical structure. The poem’s concluding section exhibits personification. Shakespeare personifies Time and Love in that passage, as he does throughout his sonnet. He describes them as forces with the power to consciously alter lives.
Structure of the Poem
The poem is structured like a classic Shakespearean sonnet with fourteen lines. The speaker describes what real love is not in the first twelve lines, broken into three quatrains. The final two lines, which form the basis of a couplet, emphasize the veracity of the claims made in the quatrains. This sonnet has the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg. The poem is inscribed in iambic pentameter, meaning that for most of the poem, each line has ten syllables plus five beats. The only exceptions are lines 12, 8, and 6 and the final beat is longer.
Figurative Language
Shakespeare employs a variety of figurative language, including metaphors, symbolism, and imagery, to make his point about the nature of real love clear throughout the poem. Shakespeare employs symbolism in this first quatrain with the famous line “marriage of true minds” (Line 1). Using one item to represent a more significant notion or concept is known as symbolism (Carston, 2018). Shakespeare employs the usual symbolism of “mind” to allude to one’s intellect and character as well as to the physical brain. He outlines the ultimate marriage as among two true minds using this symbol.
Throughout Shakespeare’s poem, metaphors are frequently used. The poem employs metaphors to explain how love serves as a map for people who are lost. In the second quatrain, the narrator addresses love using a metaphor: a beacon of light for seafaring vessels “wand’ring barks” that “focusses at tempests but is never disturbed” (Line 6-7). Sonnet 116 describes the quality of love in numerous instances using vivid imagery. He alludes to it as “a steady and fixed spot, which is staring on tempests and would never be shaken,” a “leading light to all the wand’ring bark,” and the “bending sickle” of time amid the “rosy lips and cheeks” of love (Line 5-10).
Punctuation Used
There are four end marks in Sonnet 116 whereby the first complete the thought in line 2, and the remaining three do so at the endings of lines 8, 12, and 14. A hindrance or obstacle is what the Oxford English Dictionary defines as an impediment. The usage of the period then clearly illustrates this hindrance. The reader is stopped by the period appearing in the line’s center. He had to pause and slow down since he could not read the last word of the line without stopping. The flow of the line is impeded by the period, and this example demonstrates what Shakespeare thinks should be ignored in romantic relationships. The other mid-line punctuation marks other than this one is three commas and an exclamation point to indicate an interjection. The other in-between-lines punctuation adds clarity rather than slowing the poem’s pace.
Conclusion
The unusual lyric in Sonnet 116 establishes the concept of love by using several different strategies. Shakespeare’s love is a marriage of real minds portraying love as a heavy feeling impervious to outside influences and challenges. Even though the partner becomes unfaithful, love remains intact. These words collectively convey a sense of steadiness and firmness. Shakespeare’s primary message, which he hoped the readers would get, is that affection is an aggressive action that is powerful and indisputable.
References
Carston, R. (2018). Figurative language, mental imagery, and pragmatics. Metaphor and Symbol, 33(3), 198-217. Web.
Lamb, M. (2019). “Love is not love”: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, Pembroke, and the inns of court. Shakespeare Quarterly, 70(2), 101-128. Web.