Tuesday 18 July 2017

Sonnet 116

SONNET 116


By 


William Shakespeare

Let  me  not  to the  marriage  of  true minds 
Admit  impediments. Love  is not  love Which alters when it  alteration finds, 
Or  bends with the  remover  to remove:
Oh no!  it  is an ever fixed mark 
That  looks on tempests and is never shaken; 
It  is the  star  to  every  wandering  bark, Whose  Worth's unknown,  although his height  be  taken.
Love's not  Time's  fool, though rosy  lips and  cheeks 
Within his bending  sickle's  compass come: Love  alters not  with his brief  hours and weeks, 
But  bears it  out  even to the  edge  of doom.
If  this be  error  and upon  me  proved,
I  never  writ, nor  no man  ever  loved.

Introduction


A Sonnet is a short poem  of  14  lines. The term  ‘sonnet’  is  derived from  the Italian word sonetto’  which means “little sound”. It has its origin in Italy and it was perfected by  the  Italian poet Petrarch. Later Shakespeare modified the Petrarchan sonnet form into English sonnet. The Shakespearean sonnet is made up of three decasyllabic quatrains rhyming alternatively followed by a concluding couplet. It has the rhyme scheme  abab, cdcd, efef, gg.


Shakespeare’s Sonnets are a collection of 154  sonnets, dealing with  themes  such  as the passage of  time, love, beauty  and mortality. They  were  published  together in  1609. The  first 126 sonnets  are addressed  to  an  unnamed  young nobleman  with  whom  the  poet  is helplessly emotionally  bound. The final sonnets  are  addressed  to  a  mysterious woman, whom the  speaker loves,  hates and  lusts  for  simultaneously. The  young nobleman  is  referred  to  as  ‘Mr.  W.H’ and the mysterious woman is referred to  as the ‘dark lady’.


In  this  sonnet  Shakespeare  glorifies ideal and  eternal  love  which stands with the ravages of Time. The  predominant themes of  this sonnet is true  love  which is constant  and permanent. 


Theme 
1. Love 
2. Loyalty 
3. Time 
4. Immortality 
5. Permanent and constant 
6. Relationship 


Quatrain 1 says:

The poet is talking of the marriage of true minds. The first two lines draw us to the Christian marriage service and its accompanying ceremonies. Love is not love if it changes under changed circumstances. Love is not true if it agrees with the one who wants to dissolve the lover’s union.

Quatrain 2

Love is an ever fixed mark, a light house which looks on tempests but is never shaken.True love is like the pole star which guides every passing ship. Its value is unknown though its height be calculated.

Quatrain 3

True love is not Time’s fool. Time can destroy the rosy lips and cheeks which are indicative of youth and physical beauty. Time is personified as a reaper carrying a sickle with which he cuts man’s life, looks and possessions. But true love is constant and it never alters with the passage of time. It can surmount all the obstacles. True love lasts till the end of the world.Nothing can destroy true love. 

Final couplet 

The poet justifies and reaffirms his statement that true love is constant and permanent.  If any one proves this statement to be false, then the poet says that he had never written anything and no man ever experienced true love.

 1. What  are  the  different  aspects of  love  that  the poet discusses in the  sonnet?

 The poet distinguishes  between  true  love  and unfaithful love. Love is not love which  alters under changed  circumstances. True  love is constant and permanent  which  never alters with the passage  of  time.  Nothing can destroy it.

2. How will the mutual transfer of the lines5 and 7 affect the appreciation of the poem?

The mutual transfer of the lines5 and 7 does not make any difference in the appreciation of the poem. The lighthouse, an ever fixed mark is replaced by  the pole star  which guides every  passing  ship in  the  ocean.   Both  the  light  house  and the  pole  star refer  to  the permanence  of true  love.

3. How  many  syllables  are  there  in  each line?  How  many  words  contain  more than  two syllables?

There  are  ten  syllables  in  each  line. Words  like  ‘impediments’,  ‘alter ‘wandering’  contain more  than two syllables.

4. Majority of the words (more than 75 per9cent) in the sonnet  are monosyllabic. Do they produce any special  effect? 

The use of monosyllabic  words in each line gives a special  tone  and rhythm  to the poem.

5. Did  you closely  examine  the  content words? Are  they  simple  and  familiar?

The  content  words like  love, time, ever-fixed mark, star  are  simple  and familiar.

6. Spot instances of Alliteration, personification, internal rhyme.

Alliteration : It is a series of words in a row have the same first consonant sounds.
a)  Love  is not  Love
b)  alters when it  alteration
c)  remover  to  remove 
Personification: When a thing or an animal is given human qualities or attributes. To act like a human.
Time  is  personified  as  a man  carrying  a sickle  with  which  he cuts man’s life, looks and possessions. 
Internal rhyme: It is rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse, or between internal phrases across multiple lines.
a) Which  alters  when  it  alteration  finds. b) Bends  with  the  remover  to remove

7. What  is t The he  rhyme  scheme  of  the sonnet ?
Rhyme  scheme  of  this sonnet  is abab, cdcd,  efef,  gg

Paragraph question:


1.Write a note on the theme of the poem.

Love is the predominant theme of sonnet 116.The poet describes true love as constant and  permanent. True love never alters under  any  changed circumstances.   It never changes  even when  one  of  the lovers  become unfaithful  to  the  other.   The  poet  makes use of  two  metaphors  to bring  out  the nature  of  true  love.    True love  is  an ever fixed  mark, that  looks  on tempests but  is  never  shaken.    It  is  the pole  star that  guides  every wandering ship. Love is not  subject  to  the  ravages of time. Time can  destroy  the  rosy  lips and cheeks which  is  indicative  of  youth  and beauty. But  true  love  never  changes with the passage  of time. It  can surmount all the obstacles  and it  lasts till  the  end of  the world.

Essay:


Write  a  critical  appreciation of  the  poem sonnet  116.

Shakespeare  has  written  154  sonnets  and they  all  deal  with  the  theme  of  love, time, beauty, friendship  and  mortality.   Sonnet  116  is  one  of  the  most  widely read  poems  among them.    The  first  126 sonnets  are  addressed  to  a  young  man with  whom  the  speaker  of poem  is emotionally  bound. The  rest  of  the sonnets are  addressed to ‘the  dark lady’.

The Love  is  the  most  prominent  theme of sonnet  116. The poet glorifies the meaning of true  love  which  can  surpass all  the obstacles  and  thus  remains unchanged even  with the passage  of  time. The  poet begins  this  sonnet  with  a  reference  to the  Christian  marriage  service  and its accompanying  ceremonies. He talks of the union of true minds. The poet makes a distinction between true love and unfaithful  love. According  to  him, love  is not love which alters  under  changed circumstances. True  love  never  changes even  when  one  of  the  lovers becomes unfaithful  to the  other.


In the next quatrain Shakespeare makes use of two metaphors to bring out the permanence of true love. First, the poet says that love is  an ever fixed mark that looks upon tempests but is never shaken. Next  he says  that  love  is  the  pole star which guides  every  wandering  ship in the ocean. Its value is unknown though its height be calculated. In the  third  quatrain, the poet brings  out  the  ravages  of  time. Time is personified  as a  reaper carrying a sickle with  which  he  cuts  man’s  life, looks and possessions. Time  can destroy the rosy lips and cheeks but  true  love does not depend on  physical  beauty True love will remain unchanged  even with the passage of  time. It  will  remain the same till the end of  the world. It  is constant and permanent  and nothing  can change it. The last two lines reaffirm the poet’s statement that  true  love is constant and permanent. If  this statement is proved wrong  by  any one, then  the poet says that  he  had never written any poems and no man ever experienced true love.


2. Shakespeare’s veiw about true love
Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous of the sonnets for its stalwart defense true love. The sonnet has a relatively simple structure, with each quatrain attempting to describe what love is (or is not) and the final couplet reaffirming the poet's words by placing his own merit on the line. Note that this is one of the few sonnets in the fair lord sequence that is not addressed directly to the fair lord; the context of the sonnet, however, gives it away as an exposition of the poet's deep and enduring love for him.

The opening lines of the sonnet dive the reader into the theme at a rapid pace, accomplished in part by the use of enjambment - the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of poetry to the next without any form of pause, e.g., "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments ..." This first quatrain asserts that true love is immortal and unchanging: it neither changes on its own nor allows itself to be changed, even when it encounters changes in the loved one. Quatrain two embarks on a series of seafaring metaphors to further establish the permanence of true love: in line 5 it is an "ever-fixed mark," a sea mark that navigators could use to guide their course; in line 7 it is a steadfast star (the North Star, perhaps), whose height we are able to measure (as with a quadrant) although we may know nothing of its nature (the science of stars had hardly progressed by Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous of the sonnets for its stalwart defense of true love.


The sonnet has a relatively simple structure, with each quatrain attempting to describe what love is (or is not) and the final couplet reaffirming the poet's words by placing his own merit on the line. Note that this is one of the few sonnets in the fair lord sequence that is not addressed directly to the fair lord; the context of the sonnet, however, gives it away as an exposition of the poet's deep and enduring love for him.

Finally, quatrain three nails home the theme, with love's undying essence prevailing against the "bending sickle" of Time. Time's "hours and weeks" are "brief" compared to love's longevity, and only some great and final destruction of apocalyptic proportions could spell its doom.

Sonnet 116 closes with a rather hefty wager against the validity of the poet's words: he writes that if what he claims above is proven untrue, then he "never writ, nor no man ever loved."In comparison with most other sonnets, sonnet 116 strikes readers as relatively simple. The metaphors are reasonably transparent, and the theme is quickly and plainly apparent. The overarching sentiment of true love's timeless and immutable nature is presented and developed in the first eight lines, but there is no twist at the third quatrain - rather a continuation of the theme. Even the couplet is but a simple statement like "there you have it." The simplicity is noteworthy, and perhaps it was deliberate: Shakespeare's goal may have been unaffected candor, sincerity of conviction. It should come as no wonder that the lines of sonnet 116 often are quoted as Shakespeare's authentic definition of love.undying essence prevailing against the "bending sickle" of Time. Time's "hours and weeks" are "brief" compared to love's longevity, and only some great and final destruction of apocalyptic proportions could spell its doom.

In comparison with most other sonnets, sonnet 116 strikes readers as relatively simple. The metaphors are reasonably transparent, and the theme is quickly and plainly apparent. The overarching sentiment of true love's timeless and immutable nature is presented and developed in the first eight lines, but there is no twist at the third quatrain - rather a continuation of the theme. Even the couplet is but a simple statement like "there you have it." The simplicity is noteworthy, and perhaps it was deliberate: Shakespeare's goal may have been unaffected candor, sincerity of conviction. It should come as no wonder that the lines of sonnet 116 often are quoted as Shakespeare's authentic definition of love.

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