1. Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
Notes
Translation of each line:
(1)Let me not declare any reasons why two true minded people should not be married
(2/3) Love is not love which changes when it finds changes in circumstances
(4)Or bends from its firm stand even when a lover is unfaithful
(5) It is an ever-fixed ‘mark’ ( mark = lighthouse)
(6) it sees storms but it never changes
(7) It is a guiding North Star to every lost ship
(8) whose value can be calculated, but height cannot be measured
(9) Love is not at the mercy of time although
(10/11) physical beauty is cut down by time. time will alter beauty, but not love
(12) Love does not change as time goes on)- Love lasts till the end – until judgement day
‘doom’ – Forever.
-THIS IS THE END OF THE FIRST THREE VERSES(13) if i am proved wrong on these thoughts of love
(14) i reject/recant all that I have written and forever nobody has ever loved
-
END OF FINAL COUPLET -
Poem about ideal and absolute love
Shakespeare = making a statement about this ^
He is saying that if these facts about ideal love are untrue then nobody has ever loved
That everything he has ever written is all nonsense ( final couplet)
The poem stops at line 12, till then everything is in one sense
Not a very poetic poem – theres nothing complex or poetic about the poem
March of iambics in final line
Sonnet
A sonnet should always be about one subject
This is about ideal love
Ends with a couplet – provides firm conclusion of poem, some serious emphasis - big
thumping great end

2. Rhyme
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This is a Shakespeare couplet where the last two lines rhyme
The rhyming is very firm:
o 1st quatrain – ABAB
o 2nd quatrain – CDCD
o 3rd quatrain – EFEF
o Last coulet = GG
10 syllables per line
Rhythm = iambic pentameter
However, it won’t always be iamb, iamb, iamb
5 feet so iambic pentameter
Line 1: | T /_ | T /_ | I_/ | P_ _ | S / /|
| Let me| not to | the mar | riage of | true minds |
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_ = unstressed , / = stressed
T = Trochee (stressed, unstressed)
I = Iamb (unstressed, stressed)
P= Phyric (unstressed, unstressed)
S = Spondee (stressed, stressed)
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Line 2: | Admit |imped | iments: | love is | not love |
| _/
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| _/
I |
I
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__ |
P
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/_ |
/_
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T
T
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Diction
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Suitable vehicle for logical thoughts
Simple poem  simple message  straight forward nature of poem straight forward
rhyme scheme
It is formal because it has a set way of being written : 3 quatrains and then a final
couplet
Straight forward and natural
Conveys a sense of natural conversation and intimacy especially because he is talking
directly to us
Since it is a flexible iambic pentameter it does not always need to be 5 iambs – makes it
colloquial
The rhyme scheme is very formal
Since last line = PURE iambic pentameter brings poem to a stern end – emphasises
o Conclusive line  dramatic, neat end
Diction = very simple

3. -
Poem = 75% monosyllables
Due to the monosyllables, the word ‘impediments’ has a serious affect
Impediments = allusion – a reference to something from somewhere else outside the
poem –
The word ‘impediments’ is used in the Christian marriage ceremony
‘alterations’ also stands out due to monosyllables
Extreme simplicity o poem shows sincerity, straight forwardness
Imagery
‘It is an ever fixed mark’ - ‘mark’ =image of a light house
‘tempest’ = storm
Lighthouse standing strongly + firmly in the midst of a storm. Image = metaphor of love
Love is like a lighthouse – stands strong in the midst of chaos
‘stars’ - fixed + permanent
Polaris – the Pole star – the North Star  guides ship
Love = North star to every ship, you can guide your ship of life by the Pole star
Offers hope and consolation
Wandering ship (bark) another image
Life = like lost ship in sea – need to come to port  cant due to chaos surrounding us but
love = solution to everything
True value of star = unknown
Qualification – love is distant + immeasurable  can make some sort of measurement
Some love = really great, other love = not so great
Either way – we still don’t really understand love
Love = not destroyed by time
‘time’ = king, ‘fool’ = jester
o King controls jester
o Love cannot be controlled
Rosy lips- red cheeks – imagery
Some things fall in the reach (‘compass’) of the sickle
Beauty = affected by time = love is not
Love is not times fool but beauty is
Use of repetition of ‘s’ = sibilance – very noticeable in lines 9 + 10
Line 10 – compass come = alliteration
Line 11 = repetition – reinforcing that love does not alter with time
o Emphasis
Star = male + metaphorically male – cupid = male
Allusion – his height = cupid
In summary, the poet has employed 110 of the simplest words in the English language and two of
the simplest rhyme schemes to produce a poem which has about it no strangeness whatever except
the strangeness of its perfection.