Sonnet 116

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1609

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

This poem is primarily written in iambic pentameter, with some variations in key lines. Iambic pentameter is a line of ten syllables consisting of five beats, each with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. This is an English, or Shakespearean, sonnet. The contrast between the Italian and English sonnet form is in the rhyme scheme and the location of the turn: the Italian sonnet is made up of an octave (an 8-line stanza) rhyming in an ABBAABBA pattern followed by a sestet (a 6-line stanza) rhyming in a CDCDCD pattern. An English, or Shakespearean, sonnet, contains three quatrains (4-line stanzas) followed by a final couplet, with a rhyme scheme of: ABABCDCDEFEFGG.

Reflecting the poem’s unconventionality, the poem contains several moments that are not written in iambic pentameter, with these irregularities adding an element of surprise and preventing the rhythm of the poem from becoming rote or predictable. In the first line, the choice to stray from the typical meter is an attention-grabbing technique. The use of an emphatic spondee (two stressed syllables) in the first beat (“Let me”, Line 1) sets the mood for the poem, which is a forceful and unequivocal meditation in defense of love. Shakespeare is using unexpected metrical choices to convey that his understanding of love contrasts with that of his peers.

Figurative Language

As the argument progresses, the stakes are raised, and the poetic tension is developed through the mingling of imagery and metaphor to produce grander images of love in each quatrain. The figurative language emphasizes the tonal shifts that develop the movement of the sonnet, with the poet beginning from a rational simplification of love in the first four lines, then venturing into a poetic image of love in the second quatrain, and in the third quatrain pitting love against time itself through the personification of love and time as opponents. The poet’s understanding of love is refined and expanded with each metaphor. Using sky and sea imagery, Shakespeare demonstrates that the natural world serves as metaphorical inspiration for love’s strength despite life’s trials: love is the “ever fixed” (Line 5) sea-mark that will assist the lost through any storm (a sea-mark is an object that is readily visible when one is at sea and can serve as a navigation guide because it is steady). The personification of love and death in the third quatrain depicts love’s eternal nature, as it cannot be vanquished.

Rhetoric

The poem is written as if Shakespeare is responding to an imaginary opponent who believes that love is mutable, can be measured, and is pointless anyway, as both the lover and the beloved will one day die. In each quatrain, his response is a resounding refusal of these assumptions about love. Shakespeare initially examines love logically, then switches to a metaphorical and imagery-laden argument about love’s nature, and arrives at a personal understanding of what love means to himself and the world with the concluding couplet as he dares anyone to attempt to argue otherwise.

Shakespeare uses all the rhetorical techniques (logos, or rational argument; pathos, or appeal to emotion; and ethos, appeal to authority or reputation) in clear succession in each section of the sonnet. In the first quatrain, the repetition of words with changed meanings in lines 2-4: “love” (Line 2) and “not love” (Line 2); “alters” (Line 3) and “alteration” (Line 3); “remove” (Line 4) and “remover” (Line 4) each displays his mastery of logical rhetoric. He conveys the precision of his thought on the nature of love through negations and intricate speech. In the second and third quatrains, he uses pathos, appealing to emotions through images of natural beauty and the decay of beauty. This shows the contrast between the natural process of life and death and love’s endlessness. In the final couplet, he places his reputation on the line, demonstrating a compelling use of ethos that both personalize the poem and finishes the poem on a playfully challenging note.