Who is sonnet 116 about

LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play. Sign Up. Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Question about this poem?

Ask us. Love is not love 3 Which alters when it alteration finds, 4 Or bends with the remover to remove. Cite This Page. What gives this poem its rhetorical and emotional power is not its complexity; rather, it is the force of its linguistic and emotional conviction. The language of Sonnet is not remarkable for its imagery or metaphoric range. But the language is extraordinary in that it frames its discussion of the passion of love within a very restrained, very intensely disciplined rhetorical structure.

SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Suggested Essay Topics. If someone claims to love someone but cannot resist the temptation of bending under the influence of some force, such claims are empty rhetoric. If a remover tries to remove the poles of love, true love will not let it do so. It will overcome any hurdle that comes in its way. It withstands the wear and tear of storms and remains unshaken in severe conditions.

Just like the North Star shows the direction to the lost ships in the midst of storms, true love directs the wandering souls in the right direction. The worth of true love is also like the value of the North Star. The value of these two cannot be estimated even if we come to know their heights.

The speaker admits that the outward attraction of humans does fade away with time. The rosy lips and cheeks of the beloved will surely lose their vibrant colors as time passes. However, love is not dependent on these things. The small hours and weeks of time cannot encompass the vastness of true love.

True love will remain unchanged in the face of every trick employed by time. It will fight time until doomsday sees the end of time. The speaker of the sonnet speaks about the durability of love against the actions of time throughout the sonnet. The very first argument that the speaker makes is that true love is not the love that changes with time. Time has the ability to change a lot of things as it passes.

It is the same time that changes a seed into a large tree and then ages it towards extinction. In the same manner, almost everything in this world is unable to withstand the tides of time.

As time passes by, everything changes shape and moves toward decline. However, the speaker claims that true love has the ability to stand tough in the face of forces of time. No matter how great time is, true love always succeeds in defeating it.

The obvious elements of love, like red lips and glowing cheeks, do fade away with time. The beauty of the beloved does not remain the same. However, true love is not dependent on these things.

It thrives even when all the beauty is lost because it stays in the heart, which never alters. The sonnet seems to be an argumentative essay on the topic of true love. The speaker offers an argument after argument regarding the concept of true love in the whole sonnet.

It surpasses such boundaries and lies way beyond the reach of worldly forces. When the worldly forces are trying to lead the boats of our lives astray, true love stands as the North Star to guide us through. It can help us in our fight against the elements of nature. Moreover, true love is fixed and bright like a star.

It does not move around like other heavenly bodies. Instead, it endures every difficulty and goes on to survive till the doomsday. True love is also a guiding star for the wandering souls. It helps the wandering souls in steering their ships in the right direction and get ashore. Although the dominant portion of the sonnet argues about how love is a superior force than time, the poet has also provided another quality of true love.

This quality is the ability to love to lead the wandering humans in the world. There are two analogies that attribute the quality of guidance to true love. The first analogy appears in the fifth line, where love is compared with a lighthouse. A lighthouse is meant to help ships to find their way in the sea. They usually become useful when the ships are caught in the middle of the sea during a storm. In such situations, the lighthouse guides them towards the shore.

It is true love that guides a person to safety at such times.