Sonnet 116

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Sonnet 116

• William Shakespeare

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• 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 wandering 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.

3

• Let me not to the marriage of true minds
• Let me not declare any reasons impediments why
  two

4

• Admit impediments. Love is not love
• True-minded people should be married. Love is not
  love

5

• Which alters when it alteration finds,
• Which alters when it finds an alteration in
  circumstances,

6

• Or bends with the remover to remove
• Or bends from its firm stand even when the lovers
  are unfaithful

7

• O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
• Oh no! it is a fixed mark

8

• That looks on tempests and is never shaken
• That sees storms but it never shaken

9

• It is the star to every wandering bark,
• It love is the guiding star to every lost ship,

10

• Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
  taken.
• Whose value cannot be calculated, although its
  height can be measured.

11

• Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and
  cheeks
• Love is not at the mercy of Time, though its rosy
  lips and cheeks

12

• Within his bending sickle's compass come
• Come within the compass of his Time's sickle

13

• Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks
• Love does not alter with hours and weeks,

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• But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
• But, rather, it endures until the last day of
  life.

15

• If this be error and upon me proved
• If I am proved wrong about these thoughts on love

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• I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
• Then I recant all that I have written, and no man
  has ever really loved.

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Analysis

• Sonnet 116 is about love in its most ideal form.
• It is praising the glories of lovers who have
  come to each other freely, and enter into a
  relationship based on trust and understanding.
• The first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure
  in love that is constant and strong, and will not
  "alter when it alteration finds".
• The following lines proclaim that true love is
  indeed an "ever-fix'd mark" which will survive
  any crisis.
• In lines 7-8, the poet claims that we may be able
  to measure love to some degree, but this does not
  mean we fully understand it.
• Love's actual worth cannot be known -- it remains
  a mystery.
• The remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12),
  reaffirm the perfect nature of love that is
  unshakeable throughout time and remains so "ev'n
  to the edge of doom", or death.
• In the final couplet, the poet declares that, if
  he is mistaken about the constant, unmovable
  nature of perfect love, then he must take back
  all his writings on love, truth, and faith.
• Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact judged
  love inappropriately, no man has ever really
  loved, in the ideal sense that the poet
  professes.

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Presentazione di

• Maccari Alice
• Ricceri Nadia
• Rondini Claudia
• Venturi Simona