Sonnet 116 Flashcards
When was Sonnet 116 written and by who?
Early 16th century by William Shakespeare.
Historical context
English society had become a lot more peaceful during the reign of Elizabeth I - peaceful society allowed people to become introspective, hence the sonnet craze.
Believed to be written about Shakespeare’s love for the Earl of Southampton.
Challenges gender norms.
Idealistic and timeless love.
Structure
Iambic pentameter - rhyming couplet - late volta
‘Let me not, to the marriage of true minds’
Immediately evokes the sacrament of marriage.
‘Which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove’
Believes that true love could never change regardless of anything and if love departs love will remain, even if torturous.
‘O no! It is an ever-fixed mark’
Exclamative reinforce the personas passion.
‘Ever-fixed mark’ - refers to lighthouse, guides in the dark.
‘It is the star to every wandering bark’
‘Bark’ refers to ship, in Elizabethan times ships were heavily guided by the stars.
The determiner ‘the’ conveys importance as it is singular, making it the aim of life.
‘Loves not Times fool’
‘Time’ capitalised, personified - specifically as the grim reaper of death - clarified through ‘sickle’
‘Bears it out even to the edge of doom’
‘Edge of doom’ refers to the last day/ day of judgment which is a hyperbolic jump from ‘hours’ or ‘weeks’.
‘I never writ, nor no man ever loved’
Rhyming couple - parodoxical, cannot be proven wrong.
Asserting his argument.
Themes
Perspective - probably from Shakespeare’s
Marriage and love should be mainly based on compatibility and not whether the match is enshrined in law or not.
