Sonnet 116

Question 1

Let me not… (start of poem)

Answer 1

Begins with a negative wish, sets tone for rest of poem (defining love by what it isn’t)

Question 2

(Let me not) to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments

Answer 2

Immediately invokes the sacrament of marriage, yet the speaker suggests that the union of two suited minds should be free to join together - not the case at the time, e.g. gay marriage was illegal
Speaker appears to suggest he is for the union of any truly suited minds, that love doesn’t need to be recognised by law/others because it is primarily spiritual
Enjambment - emphasises true love should have no impediments (no punctuation between lines = no barriers between true lovers)

Question 3

(Love is not love)
Which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove

Answer 3

True love can’t be changed
Use of polyptoton (“alters… alteration” and “remover… remove”) - emphasises the importance of love being unchangeable

Question 4

The star to every wandering bark

Answer 4

Metaphor of “star” - shows love can be a guiding light
Determiner “the” - shows importance of the start, implies it is the singular aim of life (as “the” suggests only one), might also suggest there is only one true love
“Bark” = ship

Question 5

Worth’s unknown (referring to love)

Answer 5

Only lovers can know the value of true love

Question 6

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosey lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come

Answer 6

Capitalisation of “Time” - indicates it has been personified, specifically as the grim reaper/death, this is reinforced by “sickle” (a scythe used by the grim reaper)
Shakespeare is saying death is inescapable, but love is eternal (“not Time’s fool”)
“Compasses come” alliteration - alluding to sound of clock ticking

Question 7

Bears it out even to the edge of doom

Answer 7

Refers to the day of judgement - love will endure until then (hyperbole)

Question 8

If this be error and upon me proved,
I never write, nor no man ever loved.

Answer 8

Final standalone rhyming couplet (emphasises the ideas in the last two lines)
Brings the sonnet together and leaves the reader with a sense of the finality and strength/truth of shakespeare’s words (he has such conviction in his beliefs it encourages reader to believe)
Negatives in the final line - emphasise strength of his conviction

Question 9

Polyptoton

Answer 9

Repetition of words derived from the same root (e.g. hated, hating)