2. “Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments”
3. “Love is not love Which alters when it alteration
finds, Or bends with the remover to remove.”
4. “It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose
worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.”
5. “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.”
6. “If this be error and upon me proved, I never
writ, nor no man ever loved”
Sonnet 116 examines the power of love during a time of great change. Doebler [1] shows us how Shakespeare gives his definition of love while comparing it to a compass. Clark [2] helps reveal the lesson that the sonnet is teaching us: life is not worth living without love.
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments”Shakespeare opens his sonnet with a condition. He is making it clear that nothing he is about to write would be true unless the minds of the two lovers are “true.” Shakespeare is giving power back to the word love, and he wants readers to understand that love requires a certain amount of maturity. As Clark [2] says, “true minds” seems to imply minds of a higher level of thinking and a higher understanding of emotion.
“Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove.”The next part of sonnet 116 is when Shakespeare dives into his definition and comparison. The point of this sonnet is to describe how love is unchanging no matter how many things around the lovers change. Doebler [1] believes that this can best be compared to a compass. No matter what direction you travel a compass always has an arrow pointed north. Doebler [1] says that no matter what direction two lovers might travel or what things might change about them, love will always give them a sense of direction to bring them back together.
“It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.” The direction and charting metaphor continues on in these lines but is made much more prevalent. Shakespeare says that love is “the star to every wand’ring bark,” Clark [2] says that Shakespeare is referring to the North Star and comparing love to the power and direction that it provides sailors lost at sea. The power of this statement has been lost over time; in a world of GPS and cell phones readers do not understand the importance of the North Star for direction. When sonnet 116 was written the North Star was used in finding direction at night when sailors could not see anything else. Doebler [1] also agrees that this statement is referring to the North Star when Shakespeare refers to “height being taken.” Doebler [1] points out how ships captains would use a sextant to measure the height of the North Star from the horizon which would give them direction. Saying love has just as much power to direct as the North Star was a weighty statement. In the middle of the two phrases about direction Shakespeare slips in a very important line, “Whose worth’s unknown.” Clark [2] points out that although love provides such a strong sense of direction it is still worth so much more than that.
“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.”This part of the sonnet is the big crescendo, you can almost see the captain of this ship screaming, “onward” as they sail into a dangerous storm but continue heading toward the North Star of love. As Clark [2] says it, “It (love) hangs on totally unimpaired, until the crack of doom.” It important at this point to notice how Shakespeare starts his sonnet talking about maturity and “true minds” but as he describes more about love he seems to be abandoning all maturity and embracing pure emotion.
“If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” Shakespeare hits us with a powerful climax to summarize every point he made thus far. Clark [2] says it best, “if any of this is not true, then everything becomes a meaningless mockery.” He is saying that if love is not how it has been described then the world is quite meaningless. This is further supported by the way Shakespeare speaks of the North Star, without it everyone on his metaphoric ship of love would be lost at sea. Clark [2] shows us that these final lines give the entire truth to the poem; life isn’t worth anything without love.
References:[1] Doebler, J., 1964, “A Submerged Emblem in Sonnet 116,” Shakespeare Quarterly, 15(1), pp.109-110 [2] Clark, W. R., 1960, “Sonnet CXVI,” The Clearing House, 34(5), pp. 316
