'Sonnet 116' by William Shakespeare

'Sonnet 116' by William Shakespeare

1. Sonnet 116 - defines love by what it is and is not

   • themes
     • love, loyalty, morality (own morals, what you see as right)

2. language

   • Alliteration 'love is not love when alteration finds' play on words, love never changes even though people do
   • Repetition - 'remove to remove' suggests love is consistent and won't change
   • Personification - 'love looks on tempest (storm) and is never shaken' love looks on bad times and i never affected, love is powerful almost like a godlike force
   • Time/Age/Death - 'love is not times fool' time is represents the grim-reaper. love is the only thing that can resist death. 'with his bending sickles compass come' bending sickle is the knife the grim-reaper uses.
   • Navigation - 'love is an ever fixed mark and the star to every wandering bark (ship)' love is referred to as a star, and the ships use the stars as guides, therefore stars are seen as eternal and unchanging, love also guides us through life.

3. form and structure

   • Sonnet (14 lines) written in iambic pentameter (10 syllables)
   • Quatrains - 4 lines linked together (3 quatrains in this poem)
   • Rhyming theme gives poem sense of order and completeness

4. symbolism

   • love completes a person, love is certain final rhyming couplet- final guarantee that the poem is telling the truth