Sonnet No. 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Sonnet No. 116
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.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark.
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring 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.
-William Shakespeare (Sonnet No. 116)
PARAPHRASE
May I never acknowledge any obstacles to the spiritual union of faithful minds. Love is not love which changes when it discovers a loss of physical beauty in the beloved, or inclines to withdraw when the other party’s love withdraws (1-4). No, love is a permanent beacon that looks on storms and can never be shaken. It is the pole-star to guide any vessel that is off its course. The occult virtue and potential influence of the pole-star (like love’s) can never be fully understood, even though its altitude can be known (5-8). Sonnet No. 116
True love cannot be made sport of Time, even though physical beauty (‘rosy lips and cheeks’) falls within the range of Time’s sickle, Love does not alter with the passage of Time, but endures defiantly till Doomsday (death) (9-12). If this claim that I have made (concerning the fidelity of true love) is mistaken and if this error is proved against me, then anything I have written is false, and no man’s love has ever been real love (13-14).Sonnet No. 116
[A] An Introductory Note
Sonnet 116 carries on with the thought that Time cannot destroy love the thought that is embodied in the preceding sonnet (115). It is one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s sonnet-sequence, though critical opinion of its merit varies. Yvor Winters, for instance, finds it a very mixed success complaining of weakness in language, an undignified tag in the couplet, repetition rather than development of idea in the quatrains etc. Sonnet No. 116
On the other hand, there are critics who regard the sonnet as a triumph. J. B. Leishman thinks it incomparable upon its topic, while the poet Alfred Noyes calls it ‘the finest of all. Wordsworth calls it Shakespeare’s best sonnet. Despite the difference in critical opinion the sonnet is the noblest expression of the constancy and strength of human love in conflict with the assaults of Time and millioned accidents. True love is unaltered and unalterable. The speaker of the sonnet claims he embodies in himself this ideal of love.
According to W.G. Ingram and Theodore Redpath the sonnet “is probably neither a plea to the Friend to be faithful, nor an apologia for the poet’s own conduct, nor a defence against suspicions of his infidelity, but a meditative attempt to define perfect love.”Sonnet No. 116
[B] An Analysis of the Sonnet
The poet (the speaker) sings of the triumph of love over Time. He does not acknowledge that any obstacles can alter the love between two faithful persons. Love cannot be considered as love if it changes, when it encounters millioned accidents (unforeseen occurrences, unusual incidents) which Time brings in course of its onslaughts on humans, or when it discovers a loss of physical beauty in lover or ladylove, caused by Time. True love does not incline to withdraw when the other party’s love withdraws.
It is as permanent as a beacon set up to warn mariners of shoals or dangerous rocks. It remains unshaken by the storms and stress of Time. It is as constant as the northern star which guides any vessel that is off its course. Its real value is beyond human comprehension. It is an ideal to which, like a guiding star, mankind can aspire.
in the Jo, love e pole-luence altitude hysical oes not (9-12). en and man’s Love is not the sport or mockery of Time. Though Time devours physical beauty with the hard teeth of the years, it has no power over love. Love does not change under the influence of Time which goes on continually changing. It endures till death (Doomsday/Last Judgement). Sonnet No. 116
If this claim that the poet has made about the fidelity of love is erroneous, and if this error is proved against him, then what he has written is false and no man ever truly loved. In other words, the poet is confident not merely that his definition of true love is right, but also that true love exists as proved by his own case.
[C] A Critical Appreciation of the Sonnet
Sonnet 116 is one of the best known and most admired of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Wordsworth called it Shakespeare’s best sonnet. It is the noblest expression of the constancy and strength of human love in conflict with the assaults of Time and ‘millioned accidents.”
The poet defines true love as unaltered and unalterable. It remains unaffected in the face of unforeseen and undesirable events. It does not bother about the loss of physical beauty in lover or ladylove. It is as ever-fixed as a beacon or as constant as the pole-star. It is not the sport of Time. Though Time devours physical beauty and youth with the hard teeth of the years, it cannot consume love. Sonnet No. 116
Love does not change under the influence of Time which is ever in a flux. It is as immutable as an ideal to which, like a guiding star man can aspire. The poet claims that true (ideal) love is embodied in himself. The poem ends on a note of love’s triumph over Time. The speaker makes use of argumentative pattern to establish the idea of love withstanding the onslaughts of Time, and enduring till Doomsday:
“If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”
The argumentative pattern is underscored by the use of emphatic negatives. Shakespeare’s ideal of love scoring victory over Time was not a new one. It was a convention among the sonneteers of the time to show that “Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks/Within his bending sickle’s compass come.”
Shakespeare’s sonnets are mostly charged with melancholy welling out from the perception of the destructive operations of Time, of the decay and dissolution of youth, and beauty etc. that it causes to man.
But this sonnet is free from the note of depression. Shakespeare does not unfold the theme of transience here as he does in many other sonnets (say, 18, 60, 64, 65, 73 etc.). Rather the theme of permanence of love has here been given a splendid expression.Sonnet No. 116
Sonnet 116 is conspicuous for the use of imagery. The images help to express the permanence of the emotion of love or the destructive action of Time. Shakespeare uses the images of a beacon (signal for shipping) and the pole-star to describe the constancy and faithfulness of love. A beacon is ever steady and fixed. It shines brightly in the midst of tempests to guide the mariners on the dark seas. Likewise, true love remains unaffected despite the ‘millioned accidents’ that occur with the passing of Time, and guides the lovers amidst the storms and darkness of life. Sonnet No. 116
True love is again compared to the pole-star which guides any vessel that is off its course. The pole-star remains constant: it does never change its position in the sky, which helps the wandering sailors to know the northern direction. In the same way, true love has the power of guiding the lovers aright and keeping them from going awry. The poet here compares himself to a saucy bark. In the third quatrain the poet uses the image of a reaper to unfold Time’s ravages.Sonnet No. 116
Just as a reaper cuts down corn, grass, weed and all with the curved sickle, so also Time mows down physical beauty of the lovers. There is a suggestive image in the phrase ‘the edge of doom. In order to suggest the idea that true love remains poised for ever on the heart of the lovers, the poet uses the image of being poised on the edge of an abyss.
Critical opinions are sharply divided on the sonnet’s structural and stylistic merits. Yvor Winters finds in it weakness in language, repetition rather than development in the quatrains, cliches in lines nine and ten. Such adverse criticisms should be taken with a grain of salt. The quatrains are not repetitive; the first states what love is not,the second metaphorically shows what love is like, and the third asserts its indestruc-tibility by Time.Sonnet No. 116
Moreover, the conventional language of lines nine and ten is deliberately chosen to contrast with the plain truth of eleven and twelve. The couplet however is an anti-climax. “The convoluted negatives of the last line….. show the poet protesting too much, losing confidence in his protestations or at least inviting disagree-ment with them (by anticipating rebuttal at their climax).” [John Kerrigan: Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint, 1986]Sonnet No. 116
[D] Notes & Annotations
Lines 1-8
1-2. Let me not ….. impediments: Never let it be thought that I acknowledge that any obstacles can alter the spiritual union of constant and faithful minds. marriage: union. true faithful. impediments: refers to Time’s millioned accidents (= unforeseen occurrences or unusual events which are numbered by the million) which cause firm and constant (‘strong’) minds to change their direction. Let me not…. impediments : It recalls the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer: Sonnet No. 116
“if any men do allege and declare any impediment why they may not be coupled together in matrimony…. then the Solemnization must be deferred until such time as the truth be tried, love is not love love cannot be considered as true love. 3. alteration finds
(1) encounters the changes (= millioned accidents) which Time, events or persons bring about in the course of things undergoing change; Sonnet No. 116
(2) discovers a loss of physical beauty in lover or beloved (compare lines 9-12). alters: changes. 4. Or bends with…… remove: (1) “Or inclines to withdraw when the other party’s love withdraws.” (2) deviates from its true course in response to or in harmony with, the change or departure of the love-object. bends: inclines/deviates. the remover to remove: tends to separate oneself from the love-object when the latter separates himself or herself. separates. remove separate. Sonnet No. 116
5. ever-fixed permanent. mark remover one who sea-mark (such as a beacon or other highly visible object set up to warn mariners of shoals or dangerous rocks. Compare Coriolanus, Act V. Sc. 3, 1. 74: “Like great sea-mark standing every flaw.” 6. looks on observes. 7. star North or pole-star used by mariners as most dependable to get their bearings (direction in degrees). Compare the following speech of Julius Caesar in Julius Caesar (Act III, Sc. 1, II. 60-62):Sonnet No. 116
“But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality.
There is no fellow in the firmament.”
to every wandering bark: i.e. to guide any vessel that is off its course. The speaker compares himself to a saucy bark. 8. Whose worth’s unknown….. taken: As the star, over and above what can be known about its power to guide ships at sea, has unknowable occult virtue and influence, so love beside its power of guiding us, has the occult virtue and potential influence which can nevet be fully understood or realized by imperfect human beings, although his height be taken although its altitude is scientifically measured. Sonnet No. 116
Although lines 7-8 recognise that human love is necessarily limited and thus ‘admit’ an ‘impediment’ that such love cannot fully reach the constant perfection of ideal love they nevertheless set up that ideal as one to which like a guiding star, mankind can aspire. height: ‘height’ was used by Elizabethan writers in the sense of ‘value’, and the word is used here in a double sense, ‘altitude’ (of the star) and ‘value’ (of love), “love whose worth is unknown, however it may be valued.”(Sonnet No. 116)
Lines 9-14
9. Time’s fool: the sport or mockery of Time. So King Henry IV, Act V, Sc. 4, 1. 81:(Sonnet No. 116)
“But thought’s the slave of life and life time’s fool.”
Love’s not Time’s fool: (1) True love cannot be made the sport or mockery of Time.
(2) Love is not something that is mocked by Time, because Time has no power over it. (3) Time will never make a fool or slave of true love. 9-10. though rosy….. come: even though physical beauty may fall within the sweep of Time’s sickle (i.e. falls within the range of Time’s sickle). In other words, Time’s destruction of mere physical beauty in lover or beloved creates no impediment to the constancy of true love. rosy lips and cheeks: physical beauty. bending of curved shape. compass: sweep (range). Sonnet No. 116
11. with his: under the influence of/in accordance with Time’s. his: Time’s. brief: short-lived fleeting (hence continually changing, unlike true love). 12. bears it out even to the edge of doom: endures till death/till Doomsday or the Last Judgement. edge of doom: Doomsday. Note: The phrase suggests the image of being poised on the edge of an abyss. Compare All’s Well that Ends Well, Act III, Sc. 3, II. 5-6:
“We’ll strive to bear it for your worthy sake
To the extreme edge of hazard.”
13. If this be error: If this claim that I have made concerning the fidelity of true love should be mistaken. There is a possible play on ‘writ of error’ (= a legal writ brought to procure the reversal of a judgement on the ground of error), and upon me proved: and is proved against me (by what I have said and done), 14. / never writ….loved: Sonnet No. 116
Anything I have written (writ) (referring only to earlier sonnets) is false, and no man underscored by the use of emphatic negatives that what he has written is true and that his love is true. Ingram and Redpath comment: “The poet is asserting not merely that his definition of true love is right but also that true love exists, as proved by his own case.” Sonnet No. 116
Sonnet No. 116
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