LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE
- Slides: 8
LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS (SONNET 116) William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
THEME This is a masterpiece sonnet penned down by Shakespeare and in this he tries to define true love, it is a union of true minds. The poet says that no obstacle is possible in the meeting of true hearts, such kind of love is immortal.
STRUCTURE The sonnet consists of 14 lines and is split into three stanzas with 4 lines each and a 2 line couplet. The poem follow a regular pattern and a conventional structure that a lot of older poetry writers followed, the poem end with a turn and the mood of the poem is changed with it.
IMAGERY Shakespeare’s sonnets are rich in metaphors and similies. Marriage of true minds is a metaphor. The poet compares it to a lighthouse which is ever fixed on a seashore. The poet calls love “as an ever fixed mark”. The poet also compares true love to the pole star “it is the star to every wondering bark. ” The pole star is a symbol of permanence.
PERSONIFICATION The poet has personified ‘time’. ‘Time’ is like a reaper with a sickle in his hand. ‘Time is cutting the harvest of Physical beauty of human beings but is unable to touch the emotions.
LANGUAGE The poem uses repeated words “love is not love” and remover to remove, this show that the paired words are like love couples, Shakespeare also uses natural metaphors “looks on tempest and is never shaken” this shows love as an essential part of life as are many things in nature. The first two lines show the Christian views on marriage and how they stress the idea of love. “The marriage of true minds” should be without obstacles or barriers, if love is true then no one can alter it as it is said in the poem. “It alters not when it alternation finds”.
POWERFUL PHRASES Shakespeare coins new words and phrases in his poems. He is a great coiner of word we find many new phrases in this poem for example – marriage of true minds, ‘ever fixed mark, ‘time’s food’, and bending sickle compass etc. These words are old but their combination is new.
CONCLUSION This beautiful sonnet is addressed to Shakespeare’s friend and Patron Mr. W. H. or better known as The Earl of Southampton. Shakespeare’s mastercraftmanship is revealed wonderfully in this sonnet and this is regarded as one of the Treasures of English Literature.
