Poetry - Sonnet 116

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

Peaceful period under reign of Elizabeth I, allowed people to become more introspective

Question 2

Key points

Answer 2

Idealistic and timeless love
Notion of love as a concept

Question 3

Structure / form

Answer 3

• Regular alternating rhyme scheme until final two lines, rhyming couplet
• Iambic pentameter
• Sonnet

Question 4

Key quotations

Answer 4

“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”

• Repetition demonstrates assuredness of the speaker, notion that love is unchanging and continuous
• However this offers the first insight of vulnerability in the speaker’s notion, could be perceived as limiting and restrictive - reflects Gatsby’s ambition to recreate his past love totally ignorant to the idea that love should change and develop

“It is an ever-fixed mark” / “Love’s not Time’s fool” / “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks”

• Transcendent nature of love, should persist and overcome barriers, “can’t repeat the past” - Gatsby

“If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved”

• Negative syntax reveals the strength of the speaker’s convictions, standalone rhyming couplet leaves the reader with a sense of strength in his words
• Also could display the speaker’s ignorance, no willingness to develop or change his views, relentless devotion to one singular idea - Gatsby’s passion for a singular idealistic dream