Sonnet 116 - William Shakespeare

The sonnet attempts to define love by telling both what it is and is not. It is about love in its most ideal form.

Love is constant. It provides guidance and is of great value and it lasts forever

Traditional sonnet form of abab, cdcd efefgg.- it can be said, that as the poem follows the structure of a traditional sonnet, it highlights the constancy of true love.
Iambic pentameter
Three quatrains and a rhyming couplet.
The first quatrain- focuses on the constancy of love
The second quatrain- focuses on how love provides guidance and is of great value.
The third quatrain focuses on the longevity of love.
The rhyming couplet can be classed as a volta. This is the final argument that Shakespeare presents that he is prepared to say he has never written or never loved if proven wrong.

The word ‘true’ used in the first line highlight that the poem is about love.
‘Admit impediments’- an allusion to wedding vows (if either of you know any inward impediment why you should not be conjoined).
‘Alters’, ‘alteration’, ‘remover to remove’- polyptoton here emphasises the constancy as love cannot change or be manipulated if it is real love.
‘Ever-fixed mark’- lighthouse- the metaphor highlights how it gives guidance or direction to someone in their life despite being exposed to terrible weather.
‘Tempests and is never shaken’- highlights the strength of love. The extended metaphor further highlights how the love survives difficult times but is ‘never shaken’
‘Star’- the metaphor emphasises how love gives direction.
‘Worth’s unknown’- the value of love cannot be measured.
‘Love’s not Time’s fool’- the personification of love and time here highlights how love is not at time’s mercy.
‘Within his bending sickle’s compass come;’- physical beauty comes and goes however love stays. Physical beauty succumbs to time but not to love.
‘Brief hours and weeks’, ‘to the edge of doom’- contrast here- the briefness of life is contrasted to the longevity of love. ‘Edge’ here highlights how love may go beyond death.
‘Prov’d’, ‘never’, ‘ever’- the language of certainty.

Sonnet 116 is an attempt by Shakespeare to persuade the reader (and the object of his love) of the indestructible qualities of true love which never changes and is immeasurable.