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| Henry Wriothesley |
What’s the Point?
This poem is a Shakespearean Sonnet. It is in the sequence of sonnets that were addressed to a young man called WH. The young man in question is believed to be Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton who was a very important patron of Shakespeare's. Whether they actually had a love affair or just an intense friendship is widely speculated. I guess ultimately, only Shakespeare and Wriothesley know.
This sonnet deals with agape (spiritual love) and suggests that true love conquers time and death. It suggests that true love outlasts aging and physical attraction and that ultimately it is agape is the only real type of love.
This sonnet deals with agape (spiritual love) and suggests that true love conquers time and death. It suggests that true love outlasts aging and physical attraction and that ultimately it is agape is the only real type of love.
Where’s my Evidence?
- the marriage of true minds
- Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,
- it is an ever-fixed mark,That looks on tempests and is never shaken
- It is the star to every wandering bark,
- Love's not Time's fool,
How do I Analyse this?
Form: Shakespearean Sonnets follow a very strict structure. They have three quatrains (a group of four lines) and a rhyming couplet. Each quatrain follows an ABAB rhyme scheme and deals with its own topic. The turn in the sonnet (the part where the real meaning of the sonnet is revealed) comes in the rhyming couplet at the end.
In this sonnet the first quatrain explains that he is talking about a mental connection between two people ("the marriage of two minds") and how this never changes.
The second quatrain introduces celestial imagery and suggests that love is as strong as anything in the universe.
The third quatrain claims that the aging process and death cannot conquer love.
In the final couplet, Shakespeare stakes all his writing on the belief that love is the greatest force in the universe.
The whole sonnet is well organised and follows a formal argument structure.
In this sonnet the first quatrain explains that he is talking about a mental connection between two people ("the marriage of two minds") and how this never changes.
The second quatrain introduces celestial imagery and suggests that love is as strong as anything in the universe.
The third quatrain claims that the aging process and death cannot conquer love.
In the final couplet, Shakespeare stakes all his writing on the belief that love is the greatest force in the universe.
The whole sonnet is well organised and follows a formal argument structure.
Imagery: Shakespeare opens with a metaphor: "marriage of two minds" which introduces the idea of spiritual love but which also uses the word 'marriage' which suggests a physical union and a lifelong commitment.
He says that love is "an ever fixed mark" which is a lighthouse. This is a metaphor and suggests that love guides you in life and keeps you safe.
He uses celestial imagery with the metaphor: "It is the star to every wandering bark". Stars are eternal, heavenly, lights in the darkness and in Renaissance times, sailors used them to navigate with.
Love and Time are personified through the use of capitalisation and Shakespeare suggests that love is stronger than time. The "rosy lips and cheeks" symbolise youth and the "bending sickle" is a reference to the grim reaper or death, and Shakespeare believes that even death cannot overcome true love.
He says that love is "an ever fixed mark" which is a lighthouse. This is a metaphor and suggests that love guides you in life and keeps you safe.
He uses celestial imagery with the metaphor: "It is the star to every wandering bark". Stars are eternal, heavenly, lights in the darkness and in Renaissance times, sailors used them to navigate with.
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| Sailor using the stars to navigate |
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| The Grim Reaper |
Structure: Alliteration is used to link "marriage" and "minds" emphasising the link between agape love and marriage. Maybe this suggests that this poem is not just about agape love? The marriage service is also being echoed in the word "impediments" which is used in the line :"If any of you know cause or just impediment.."
Alliteration is used again in "bending sickle's compass come" perhaps to emphasise the brutality of death.
The enjambement used in the first line gives the poem a slightly formal, rhetorical style like he is a lawyer beginning a speech. It is slightly surprising in the context of a love poem. Why do you think he adopts this tone? It is mirrored in the final couplet with the proved/ loved rhyme which again mixes this slightly legal tone with love. It's an oddly formal, argument tone which jars somewhat with the contexts of a sonnet.
Alliteration is used again in "bending sickle's compass come" perhaps to emphasise the brutality of death.
The enjambement used in the first line gives the poem a slightly formal, rhetorical style like he is a lawyer beginning a speech. It is slightly surprising in the context of a love poem. Why do you think he adopts this tone? It is mirrored in the final couplet with the proved/ loved rhyme which again mixes this slightly legal tone with love. It's an oddly formal, argument tone which jars somewhat with the contexts of a sonnet.
What is the Reader supposed to feel?
I personally think that this is a poem about connection between like minded men. Whether or not they are in a sexual relationship is not the primary concern of the speaker in this poem: what he is saying is that love is ultimately about "true minds" not a physical union. He claims that what he loves about this man is the connection they have, something that will not change with time or the aging process. It seems reasonable to believe that there is also a sexual connection between these men given the word marriage, the phallic imagery of the lighthouse, the concern about "impediments" and what we can infer about about Shakespeare's views on sexuality from his body of works . I'm guessing that the "impediment" to their union is that homosexuality was taboo in Elizabethan times and he is saying that this is not enough to keep two people apart, even if they are soul mates.
How can I Link this to what the writer is saying?
Shakespeare is deliberately ambiguous about what he is saying. One of the reasons that Shakespeare endures is because he is a populist: he is a crowd pleaser. He deliberately keeps this poem open ended so that it can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Maybe it's a poem about spiritual love , perhaps he's saying that the only love that really matters is agape - a spiritual connection between people. Or perhaps it's a bisexual's anthem: you don't fall in love with the outer packaging - it's what's inside that really counts, regardless of whether your lover is a man or a woman. Or maybe it's the first ode to gay marriage. What do you think?
How can I Link this to another poem?
Sonnet 43 - another sonnet about how love endures beyond time
Hour - a modern sonnet that claims the opposite of Sonnet 116 - love is an emotion which is only felt intensely for a short time.
To His Coy Mistress - another Elizabethan poem that claims that time is running out and that love is inevitably conquered by time.
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