Wednesday, 13 September 2017

Sonnet 116 Essay

Sonnet – 116
-William Shakespeare

Sonnet 116 is one of the best-known and most beloved poems in William Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence. This says a lot, since this group of 154 poems on the whole is probably the world’s most famous collection of love poetry. It has 14 lines. The speaker defines love in this sonnet.
Shakespeare says that true love never allows obstacles on its way. True love doesn’t change with the passage of time. No one can uproot love which is fixed constantly in the mind. True love with stands tempests of trial and misfortune.
The poet compares love to a Polar star which directs lost ships. It is not susceptible to storms. The youth and beauty of the lover may pass away but true love will remain constant though “hours and weeks” pass by. True love withstands the test of time stays steadfast until the doomsday.
In the couplet, the poet admits if his statement about love is false, he would not have written a word about love. If love is mortal or changing. The poet writes, no man would have indulged in love. The sonnet glorifies the eternal unchanging nature of love. It never changes, it never fades. It lives longer than death admits no flaw.

Finally, the poet stakes his own reputation on this definition, boldly that true love always perseveres, despite any obstacles that may arise

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