Download Summary of Part One: The sonnet: The theme is a love theme. Number

Summary of Part One:
The sonnet:
The theme is a love theme.
Number of lines are 14
Meter is iambic Pentameter.
Stanza breakdown is octave/sestet or 3 quatrains and a couplet.
Rhyme scheme it differs( please look for different poets).
A sonnet is simply a poem written in a certain format. You can identify a sonnet if the
poem has the following characteristics:
14 Lines
It is written in iambic pentameter.
It is written in a strict rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme as follows:
Petrarchan sonnet: ABBA ABBA in octave, CDE CDE or CDC DCD
Thomas Wyatt: ABBA ABBA CDDC EE
Surrey amended the octave: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Shakespearean sonnets can be presented in this way: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
John Milton: “When I consider how my light is spent”p.63
Unlike his contemporaries, John Milton was not a courtier, but a supporter
of parliament. In his hands, the sonnet form underwent some changes and
became a powerful instrument for comment on public and political affairs.
In his sonnets you do not only hear a religious conscience, but the voice of
political liberty and civic humanism.
The rhyme scheme is the Petrarchan model:
ABBA ABBA CDE CDE
But what seems unusual is that Milton’s sonnet provides the turn between
octave and sestet earlier than expected. The conjunction ‘But’, initiating a
shift in thought and feeling, appears in the middle of line 8. In addition, the
stops or pauses that we expect are frustrated by run on lines, a technique
known as enjambement.(please look at the glossary p.82)
What makes the first few readings of this sonnet seem difficult and
confusing is the experience of holding several pieces of information in mind
while the main statement remains incomplete. This delaying technique
creates suspense, which is highly appropriate since the sonnet’s meaning
turns on the experience of waiting.
Relevant Background (For your information only)
John Milton was born in London in 1609 and he died of gout in 1674.
He came from a wealthy background.
Milton’s father was a wealthy law writer, a sort of solicitor. His father also composed music.
Milton’s mother was a daughter of an importer and exporter of goods by sea.
Milton was very well educated, receiving a degree at Cambridge.
He was able to write poetry in Italian, Latin and English.
Milton was one of the most intelligent people of his era.
In 1638, he went on a European tour where he met many of the major thinkers of the day
including Galileo Galilei.
At one point he intended to become a priest. We can see the religious side to Milton in ‘When I
consider’.
He began to lose his sight and in 1652 he became completely blind. For a while he felt that
blindness would stop him from writing poetry. This is his subject matter in ‘When I Consider’.
After a number of years he resumed writing poetry. His relatives or paid secretaries wrote
down his poetry for him.
It is worth knowing that Milton later wrote a huge poem, as long as a novel, to explain the
main story of the bible. It is known as ‘Paradise Lost’.
Because Milton wrote ‘When I Consider’ nearly four centuries ago, you need to change some of
the word order in order to get the meaning. An example is ‘world and wide’ in the second line.
In our English, we put the word ‘wide’ before the word ‘world’. The full phrase would read ‘in
this dark and wild world’.
Our way of stating the first two lines is as follows: ‘When I consider how my sight is gone
before half my days have gone in this dark and wild world…
The fact that the poem of fourteen lines has only two sentences also makes the poem hard to
understand.
Summary
The first sentence lasts for just over eleven lines.
Here is the basic structure of the sentence: ‘When I consider how my light is spent…I
fondly ask Doth God exact day labour, light denied…but ...they who bear his milde yoak,
they serve him best’.
This can be translated in our English: ‘When I think about how I’ve lost my sight, I
foolishly ask whether God still expects a normal day’s work from a blind man like me.
But then I realise they who put up with their problem as a challenge from God are the
ones who serve God best’.
Thus the core of the first eleven lines is found in lines 1, 7,8 and 11.
Regard this complex sentence in eleven lines as a bag of various thoughts. It is a sort of
argument going on in Milton’s mind.
What else is in the bag?
In the second line Milton is complaining that he has to live the second half of his life as a
blind man. As a result the world now seems dark and spacious to him. In order to grasp
the full sense of line 2 we need to repeat the the verb ‘spent’ from the preceding line so as
to give “Ere half my days ( are spent), taking it to mean “ before half my life is over.
There is the use of Ellipsis in which some words which are omitted for the purpose of
brevity and impact for example when we repeated the word ‘spent’, similary in line 4.
At first Milton thinks that he can never write again.
In the third and fourth line he feels guilty that his talent as a writer is useless. Here we
need to insert ‘is’ to give ‘ though my soul [is] more bent / To serve therewith my maker:
the poet’s blindness makes him better prepared to meet God,at any time, and be ready to
offer an account of his spiritual life.
Milton is worried because he learned from the bible that God punishes those who don’t
use their talents by sending them to hell.
Between the fourth and fifth line, Milton claims that his soul really wanted to serve God
with his writing talent.
In the sixth line, Milton claims he wanted to show God at his death that he had made full
use of his talent as a poet.
Otherwise God might hand him back his ‘account’ or his talent and give out to him
[‘chide’]. This means Milton fears that God will send him to hell.
In the seventh line Milton thinks about the situation more. He uses a question to show
that God is more reasonable than to punish him for being blind. He asks how could God
expect or demand [‘exact’] normal work from a man who is blind [‘light denied’].
In line eight, Milton realises that it is foolish [‘fondly’] to think that God is so unfair.
In line eight and nine, Milton pictures or personifies Patience as a a voice who soon
replies.
In lines nine and ten, God’s reply is in his head. God seems to say that he doesn’t need
human work or the talents [‘gifts’] he gave man in the first place.
In lines ten and eleven God seems to tell Milton that those [‘who’] put up best with the
crisis that God sends them are the people who please [‘serve’] him best.
The use of the word ‘milde’ is a way of saying that God is in fact gentle and reasonable
in whatever burden he asks people to put up with.
In lines eleven and twelve, Milton remarks that God’s way of doing things [‘State’] is
like a King.
The last three lines explain what Milton means by ‘Kingly’.
In lines twelve and thirteen, Milton uses an image from his father-in-law’s shipping
business to explain ‘Kingly’.
He says that thousands travel [‘speed’] and carry messages [‘post’] over land and sea
without pause [‘rest’] at God’s command [‘his bidding’].
In other words, God has enough people to carry out his will in this world without Milton.
In the final line Milton says to himself that people like he, who stand and wait for God to
give them work, also serve God well.
He means that God will reward even an idle, blind man for just being willing or ready to
serve him. The ideal of service that Milton envisages is both religious and political,
anticipating the establishment of a paradise on earth.
By the end of the poem, Milton has considered his blindness fully. He has come to the
conclusion that God doesn’t expect him to do the impossible.
Biblical references:Important
Another aspect prevalent in this work is the many Biblical and
religious references. When the speaker tells of his talent in line three,
he refers to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew, in which the man
of the parable was dismissed to the darkness. It is also apparent that
the speaker directs his question to God, for he acknowledges that it
was God who gave him his abilities in the first place, and proclaims
him his maker. Finally, there is the reference by the respondent,
presumably God, for he refers to the mild yoke that Jesus speaks of
in Matthew eleven when he says that "my yoke is easy and my
burden is light."
Some other examples for bibilical references ,the first is taken from the parable of the
wise and foolish virgins, in which the image of a lamp burning is equated with
unswerving faith and the need to stand in readiness for the arrival of the lord.
Themes
Serving God
Milton places huge emphasis on his relationship with God. He regards God with dread.
At first he thinks that God will punish him for his blindness. Then he spends time
thinking about God and his relationship to God. His first principle is that he has been put
on earth to serve his maker, according to the fifth line. He also believes that God will ask
him to account for how he used his talent when he dies. He then fears that God will
punish [‘chide’] him for not completing his planned works of poetry, due to his blindness.
Milton believes blindness will prevent him from serving God satisfactorily. However,
Milton remembers that there is a kind side to God as well as the demanding side. He
realises that God rewards people who are patient with their problems if they have the
right attitude. Since God gave him his talent, he is serving God in spirit by being ready to
carry out what God wants him to. By being ready and willing he knows that he is
satisfying God. Standing and waiting like God’s servant is enough in God’s eyes.
Blindness
The poet is shocked by his blindness. He feels his light is spent. As a result the world
seems both ‘dark’ and ‘wide’. He cannot give ‘day-labour’ to God because he is blocked
from light. He feels he has been denied light. He thinks he faces a life of sinful idleness
as a result.
Talent
Milton feels his poetic ability is a ‘gift’ from God. It is a talent for which he is
responsible. He thinks his blindness prevents him from using his ability. Milton feels
guilty that he is the one given a talent he can no longer use. After all, he cannot hand
back his talent to God to give to someone who can use it. It is ‘lodged’ with Milton, but
‘useless’ because of his blindness. Though Milton has half his days still ahead of him, he
will be idle because of his blindness. He is very willing to use his talent but unable to use
it. Finally, he realises that there are many people busily serving God with their talents.
Therefore, all Milton can do is wait and see how God will expect him to serve in the
future.
Style
Imagery There are two references to sight: ‘light’ in lines one and seven. There is
an image of ships on the sea. Here, Milton has an image of the busy world where
thousands travel the world in ships doing God’s work.
Metaphor Milton sees God as a banker. God ‘lodged’ a writing talent in him. God
will check his final statement [‘account’] according to line six. He compares his blindness
to a ‘yoak’. A ‘yoak’ or yoke in modern English, is a harness put around the neck of a
cow to help it pull a plough. A yoke is a heavy thing to carry. He compares himself to a
servant waiting for God at the end of the poem.
Personification The virtue of patience is personified as God replying to Milton’s
thoughts from lines eight to fourteen.
Language Because Milton wrote ‘When I Consider’ nearly four centuries ago, you
need to change some of the word order in order to get the meaning. An example is ‘world
and wide’ in the second line. In our English, we put the word ‘wide’ before the word
‘world’. The full phrase would read ‘in this dark and wild world’. For more, read the
Relevant Background and Summary above] The use of ‘th’ instead of ‘s’ in verbs is
archaic or out of date English. Some of the spellings like ‘waite’, ‘deny’d’ and ‘yoak’ are
also different or archaic. The word ‘therewith’ is no longer in daily use except by
lawyers. Instead we use ‘with that’.
Contrast There is a contrast between Milton’s fears and doubts at the start of the
poem and his reassurance at the end of the poem.
written according to set rules. It is called a sonnet. In this type of sonnet there is a change
between the first and second half of the poem. The first eight lines are known as the
octave and the final six are known as the sestet. The thought and tone usually change
from the octave to the sestet. This type of sonnet is known as a Petrarchan Sonnet. It has
a very set rhyme scheme. Here, the octave is anxious and portrays a punishing God. The
sestet is reassured and portrays an understanding side to God. The octave contains
Milton’s questioning and anxious voice. The sestet contains God’s voice replying in
Milton’s mind.
John Clare: “Emmonsails Heath in Winter”p.68 to p.71 please
study this poem from the book
How Do I love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett p.73
Browning's Sonnet Series
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) wrote a series of 44 sonnets, in secret, about the intense
love she felt for her husband-to-be, poet Robert Browning. She called this series Sonnets From
the Portuguese, a title based on the pet name Robert gave her: "my little Portugee." "Sonnet 43"
was the next-to-last sonnet in this series. In composing her sonnets, she had two types of sonnet
formats from which to choose: the Italian model popularized by Petrarch (1304-1374) and the
English model popularized by Shakespeare (1564-1616). She chose Petrarch's model
Theme: Intense Love
"Sonnet 43" expresses the poet’s intense love for her husband-to-be, Robert Browning. So
intense is her love for him, she says, that it rises to the spiritual level (Lines 3 and 4). She loves
him freely, without coercion; she loves him purely, without expectation of personal gain. She even
loves him with an intensity of the suffering (passion: Line 9) resembling that of Christ on the
cross, and she loves him in the way that she loved saints as a child. Moreover, she expects to
continue to love him after death.
Annotations
How do I love thee? Let me count the
ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth
and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of
sight
thee: the poet's husband, Robert Browning
depth, breadth: internal rhyme
when . . . Grace: when my soul feels its way into the
spiritual realm
(out of sight) to find the goal of being alive and living
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
uprightly
I love you enough to meet all of your simple needs
I love thee to the level of everyday's
during the
Most quiet need, by sun and candleday (sun) and even during the night (candle-light)
light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for
Right;
freely: willingly–and just as intensely as men who
fight for freedom
I love thee purely, as they turn from
Praise.
purely: genuinely, without desire for praise
I love thee with the passion put to use
with an intensity equal to that experienced during
suffering or
In my old griefs, and with my
childhood's faith.
mourning; I love you with the blind faith of a child
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
with . . . saints: with a childlike fervor for saints and
holiness that I
With my lost saints!–I love thee with the seemed to lose when I grew older. breath: echoes
breath,
breadth, Line 2
Smiles, tears, of all my life!–and, if God
Smiles . . . life: perhaps too sentimental
choose,
I shall but love thee better after death. their love is eternal, never ending
Before the 19th c, the tradition of the sonnet was one in which the
man was usually the speaking, acting lover and the woman was
usually the silent, passive beloved. In the love sonnets of Petrarch,
Dante, Sideny and others the idealized woman is the object of
desire but is not usually seen to have desires of her own.In many
instances it is the absence or death of the woman that inspires the
poet's love. For a woman to speak openly of her own feelings in a
sonnet was very unconventional even subversive. What gives this
sonnet its stature and appeal is its confident declaration of a
woman's right to speak of love.
The rhyme scheme is Petrarchan ABBA ABBA CDC DCD. There
is no obvious turn between the octave and the sestet.
How does the structure of the sonnet contribute to its expression of
love? Look for instance at how repetition is used.
Instead of proceeding by logical reasoning and argumentation, the
sonnet offers a sustained and impassioned declaration of love
which runs across all 14 lines. The poem acquires its emotional
intensify from its repeated stress on a single phrase: " I love thee".
Six lines begin " I love thee", while another three include the
words within their structure.
The form is not one of simple incantation, however, and there is
nothing mechanical in the use of repetition. Instead, the interplay
of rhymes and the alternation of end- stopped and run on lines
gives the sonnet a powerful, pulsating energy.
This sonnet is like Shakespeare's sonnet 18, this sonnet opens with
a question and constructs a set of answers. Likewise, it creates a
strong impression of a familiar voice. The frame work of the
sonnet might be described as enumerative: It actually lists the
number of ways in which the speaker of the sonnet professes her
love. . As for Browning sonnet, the speaker counts the many ways in which
she loves her beloved and she lists eight ways in particular.
What is enumerative?
Enumerative is thus one of the most powerful rhetorical
devices to focus the mind or inspire the heart.
Interestingly, this sonnet (like Shakespeare's sonnet) also raises the issue of
love surviving long "after death." The choice of words have the effect of
equating the quality of the speaker's love to that of a strong spiritual
devotion to one's faith: "soul," "ideal Grace," "childhood's faith," "lost
saints" and "God." The poem ends with a declaration that time and death
will not diminish her love because she will continue to love the addressee
after death.
Discuss how the theme of love is dealt with in terms of content and form in
both sonnets.
The theme of love is revealed in both form and content. As far as form is
concerned, the two sonnets seem to have the same general structure since
both start with a question which they strive to answer in the remaining lines.
Shakespeare's sonnet starts with "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
and Barrett Browning's starts with "How do I love thee?" Both sonnets have
love as their focal point and both aim to show their loved ones how deeply
they love them. Therefore, the two sonnets go on to prove their point to their
addressees; the speaker in the first sonnet tries to convince his lover that he
cannot possibly compare her/ him to "a summer's day" since summer is too
short, too hot or sometimes unpredictable. As for the second sonnet, the
speaker counts the many ways in which she loves her beloved and she lists
eight ways in particular.
Both sonnets propose an argument which attempts to persuade the listener
of their points of view. Therefore, they are both argumentative in structure
though Shakespeare's is more so than Barrett Browning's. The former seems
to offer a syllogism that starts with a question. Immediately after this, the
speaker uses reason to convince the reader that a summer's day pales in
comparison to his beloved. The second sonnet is a bit different since it has
an enumerative structure which lists eight ways in which the speaker
expresses her admiration for her lover. The positioning of the words "I love
thee" at the beginning of the lines not only gives the sonnet its shape and
structure, it also directs the reader's attention to the theme of intense love in
it. The repetition of these lines also drives home the point that the speaker
devoutly loves her beloved.
The use of couplets or the lack thereof also shapes the structure of the
sonnets. Shakespeare's sonnet concludes with a powerful couplet that
enhances the theme of love, which leads the reader/ listener to the decisive
conclusion that "So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." On the other
hand, "How Do I Love Thee" is a Petrarchan sonnet that does not end with a
couplet. This helps emphasize the calmness and the sense of smoothness and
tranquility of the speaker's assertion of her love.
As for the content of the sonnets, Shakespeare's sonnet is full of images
related to summertime, which is usually associated with love. The first line
starts with the first image wherein the speaker wonders how he should
"compare thee to a summer's day." He then explains that this is not possible
since "summer's lease " is "too short" whereas his lover's "eternal summer"
will never "fade." The idea of immortality and eternal existence is also
conveyed through the mere mention of the lover in the lines of poetry. The
speaker asserts that his verse will keep his loved one alive in people's
memories.
In Barrett Browning's poem, the theme of love is expressed through the
choice of diction that is derived mostly from religious concepts. Her love is
so intense that it rises to a spiritual level. The speaker testifies that she loves
her husband-to-be "to the depth and breadth and height/ My soul can reach."
She also points out that she loves him with her "childhood's faith" and with
the intensity of the suffering that resembles that of Christ on the cross. She
also uses strong descriptive words to show that she loves her beloved "with
the passion put to use" to further solidify her feelings of intense love.
Interestingly, this sonnet (like Shakespeare's sonnet) also raises the issue of
love surviving long "after death." The choice of words have the effect of
equating the quality of the speaker's love to that of a strong spiritual
devotion to one's faith: "soul," "ideal Grace," "childhood's faith," "lost
saints" and "God." The poem ends with a declaration that time and death
will not diminish her love because she will continue to love the addressee
after death.
Compared with Shakespeare's sonnet, there is very little imagery and the language seems
relatively plain and unadorned.
Images of space(depth and breadth and height) , and of time (sun and candle light) are
used in the octave to intensify the idea of love that is both and spiritual and physical, both
yearning for infinity and yet answering each day's earthly needs. This love is given freely
and purely, instinctively and unselfishly.
The sestet proposes an additional four ways of loving with all the passion spent on past
hopes and sorrows, with the intensity of religious devotion, with all the emotions of an
entire life, and with eternal togetherness in heaven. The sestet hints at an earlier religious
despair in ' a love I seemed to lose/ with my lost saints, but the speaker's new love
provides a reason for trusting and hoping in eternal life.
Christina Rossetti's sonnet "Monna Innominata Christina Rossetti's
sonnet, p.44and 45 in resource book. Please listen to the CD1 track 10.Please you should
listen to the CD and make a note of the images and so on
Like sonnets from Portuguese Christina Rossetti's sonnet "Monna Innominata" challenges
convention by introducing a female speaker. Monna Innominata might be translated as
the unnamed lady , a reference to many anonymous heroines in the history of the sonnet.
The purpose stated at the poem's outset is to give a voice to the previously silent and
"unnamed lady" of the courtly love tradition, and the poem goes some distance toward
both such expression and the undermining of this particular tradition. The speaker of the
sonnet a female lady who addresses an absent man.
In sonnets from the Portuguese the speaker finds a way of reconciling earthly and
heavenly aspirations, but in Monna Innominata the conflict between physical and
spiritual love continues unresolved. Even though the speaker in Monna Inniminata
appears to postpone her love on earth for the promise of a greater love in heaven, the
sonnets are preoccupied with separation and fulfillment. Rossetti admires and respects
both Dante and Petrach but she objects to the treatment of women in their love sonnets.
She is showing us that if a woman writes the love sonnets, things will look a little
different.
Throughout the poem, the speaker's love for her man and her love of God come into conflict.
However, she eventually concludes that "I cannot love you if I love not him,/I cannot love Him if I
love not you" (6.13-6.14). The religious overtones prominent in "Monna Innominata" seems to not
only reflect the poet's deep religious beliefs, but also the reconcilation between earthly and spiritual
love. She portrays herself as humble in terms of God, as when she calls herself "the feeblest of God's
host" (6.7), and also in terms of her beloved, saying that should he choose another over her, she will
"commend [him] to that nobler grace" (12.4).
Rossetti takes the lead with her "Monna Innominata", giving power to the female voice and
making clear her position in terms of the tradition of romantic poetry. While vascillating between her
active and passive roles, the speaker makes clear both her love of God and her beloved.
While Christina undoubtably recognizes Browning's great talent, she nevertheless suggests that
Elizabeth Barrett's happy marriage to Robert Browning, has necessarily robbed her poetry of a certain
"feeling"and has allowed her to embrace the "fancy"of a male-dominated tradition of sonnets.
Christina's focus on denial and deferred gratification is reflected immediately in her syntax. The first
sonnet begins:
Come
back
to
me,
Or come not yet, for it is over then.
who
wait
and
watch
for
you:
She suggests that if Barrett Browning had been 'unhappy instead of happy', she might
have created a more persuasive female persona, worthy to occupy a niche beside Beatrice
and Laura.
Mayflower by Sylvia Plath p.77:This for understanding
For a comprehensive overview of the Mayflower Compact, the first document drafted by
the Pilgrims for Plymouth Colony, it is important to first understand the events leading up
to its signing. The Pilgrims had just completed a long voyage (66 days to be exact) over
the ocean. Having left England to escape religious persecution, they had gone to Holland
to live for a while, and then had continued to the New World on the ship, The Mayflower.
Two people died on the trip, but a total of 102 passengers arrived in the New World.
Land was sighted on November 9, 1620. On November 11, 1620, while in the cabin of
the Mayflower, in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod, The Mayflower
Compact was written and signed. Some of the passengers had begun to question the
authority of the group's leaders now that they had arrived in the New World. Before the
Pilgrims sailed, they had been granted a charter which authorized them to start a
settlement in the northern part of the Virginia Colony. However, since they were in
Massachusetts instead of Virginia, the charter was no longer considered valid, and leaders
worried about a possible mutiny. The Mayflower Document was originally drawn up to
be an interim governing document between charters. The Pilgrims eventually requested a
new charter, and in 1621 they were granted the Second Peirce Patent. However, the
Mayflower Compact remained in effect until 1691.
All 42 of the male adults on board the ship signed The Mayflower Compact. Governor
Bradford said this about The Mayflower Compact, This day, before we came to harbour,
observing some not well affected to unity and concord, but gave some appearance of
faction, it was thought good there should be an association and agreement, that we should
combine together in one body and to submit to such government and governors as we
should by common consent agree to make and choose, and set our hands to this that
follows, word for word."
The original Mayflower Compact document has been lost. Governor William Bradford,
however, wrote a history of Plymouth Colony
The poem reflects upon the name of the ship that brought the pilgrim settlers to America.
In the white flower of the hawthorn, it finds an appropriate emblem for the blessings that
attend the hardships and struggles endured by the pilgrims. Plath uses the sonnet in a
careful traditional way. The division between octave and sestet is clearly marked (the
transion between them is enabled by the word so).
The rhyme scheme is straight forward Petrarchan rhyme.
Tony Harrison Marked with D p.79please study it from the
book p.78 to 81
The poem is about the funeral, and cremation of the poet’s father, a simple
baker in life. Indeed, the “D” of the title is assumed to mean “daddy“, but
could, given the theme of the poem stand for “death“.
For TMA 2 Let me not to the marriage of true minds extract
A18 in resource book 1
Sonnet 116 dramatizes the nature of love, not ordinary affection but abiding love that he
defines as the "marriage of true minds" that cannot be destroyed by fickle time.
First Quatrain: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds"
In the first quatrain, the speaker of Shakespeare sonnet 116 refers to love as “the marriage
of true minds,” and alludes to the biblical injunction from Matthew 19:6 heard at
wedding ceremonies, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.”
The speaker claims that love is ever steadfast and does not change even though some
might think they see a reason for change. Also, real love cannot be disfigured in order to
try to “remove it.”
The use of repetition “Love is not love,” “alters when it alteration finds,” and “bends
with the remover to remove,” reinforces the idea of constancy on which the speaker is
focusing throughout the sonnet.
Second Quatrain: "O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark"
In the second quatrain, the speaker metaphorically likens love to a polestar or the North
Star, “an ever-fixed mark,” which serves as a guide for ships. This polestar is “an everfixed mark,” because even if the seas become rough and the ships are tossed about, the
star itself remains unshaken, still capable of guiding the ship. And even though the
distance of the polestar may be calculated by man, its value can never be determined.
The speaker, thus, is claiming that love has a kind of staying power that “stands unshaken
midst the crash of breaking worlds,” as the great yogi/poet Paramahansa Yogananda said
of man’s soul when it knows its union with the Oversoul. The speaker of sonnet 116 is
likening love to the union of the individual soul with the Divine.
k
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Let me not declare any reasons why two
Admit impediments. Love is not love
True-minded people should not be married.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Which changes when it finds a change in
circumstances,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
Or bends from its firm stand even when a
lover is unfaithful:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
Oh no! it is a lighthouse
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; That sees storms but it never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Love is the guiding north star to every lost
ship,
Whose worth's unknown, although his
height be taken.
Whose value cannot be calculated, although
its altitude can be measured.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and Love is not at the mercy of Time, though
cheeks
physical beauty
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Comes within the compass of his sickle.
Love alters not with his brief hours and
weeks,
Love does not alter with hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
But, rather, it endures until the last day of
life.
If this be error and upon me proved,
If I am proved wrong about these thoughts
on love
never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Then I recant all that I have written, and no
man has ever [truly] loved.
ANALYSIS
http://poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/shak
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Let me not declare any reasons why two
Admit impediments. Love is not love
True-minded people should not be married.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Which changes when it finds a change in
circumstances,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
Or bends from its firm stand even when a
lover is unfaithful:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
Oh no! it is a lighthouse
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; That sees storms but it never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Love is the guiding north star to every lost
ship,
Whose worth's unknown, although his
height be taken.
Whose value cannot be calculated, although
its altitude can be measured.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and Love is not at the mercy of Time, though
cheeks
physical beauty
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Comes within the compass of his sickle.
Love alters not with his brief hours and
weeks,
Love does not alter with hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
But, rather, it endures until the last day of
life.
If this be error and upon me proved,
If I am proved wrong about these thoughts
on love
never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Then I recant all that I have written, and no
man has ever [truly] loved.
ANALYSIS
eSonnet 116 is about love in its most ideal form. It is praising the glories of lovers who
have come to each other freely, and enter into a relationship based on trust and
understanding. The first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure in love that is constant and
strong, and will not "alter when it alteration finds." The following lines proclaim that true
love is indeed an "ever-fix'd mark" which will survive any crisis. In lines 7-8, the poet
claims that we may be able to measure love to some degree, but this does not mean we
fully understand it. Love's actual worth cannot be known – it remains a mystery. The
remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12), reaffirm the perfect nature of love that is
unshakeable throughout time and remains so "ev'n to the edge of doom", or death.
In the final couplet, the poet declares that, if he is mistaken about the constant,
unmovable nature of perfect love, then he must take back all his writings on love, truth,
and faith. Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact judged love inappropriately, no man
has ever really loved, in the ideal sense that the poet professes.
Please study Glossary p.82, 83,120
Glossary of Poetry Terms
couplet
In a poem, a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a
complete thought. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet.
elegy
A poem that laments the death of a person, or one that is simply sad and thoughtful. An
example of this type of poem is Thomas Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”
epic
A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. Two of the most famous epic
poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer, which tell about the Trojan War and the
adventures of Odysseus on his voyage home after the war.
figure of speech
A verbal expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve
a particular effect. Figures of speech are organized into different categories, such as
alliteration, assonance, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, simile, and synecdoche
iamb
A metrical foot of two syllables, one short (or unstressed) and one long (or stressed).
There are four iambs in the line “Come live/ with me/ and be/ my love,” from a poem by
Christopher Marlowe. (The stressed syllables are in bold.) The iamb is the reverse of the
trochee.
iambic pentameter
A type of meter in poetry, in which there are five iambs to a line. (The prefix pentameans “five,” as in pentagon, a geometrical figure with five sides. Meter refers to rhythmic
units. In a line of iambic pentameter, there are five rhythmic units that are iambs.)
Shakespeare's plays were written mostly in iambic pentameter, which is the most
common type of meter in English poetry. An example of an iambic pentameter line from
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is “But soft!/ What light/ through yon/der win/dow
breaks?” Another, from Richard III, is “A horse!/ A horse!/ My king/dom for/ a horse!”
(The stressed syllables are in bold.)
metaphor
A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is
another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word
that would be expected. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a lion
in battle, drowning in debt, and a sea of troubles.
meter
The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of
accented (or stressed) syllables
quatrain
A stanza or poem of four lines.
refrain
A line or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza.
rhyme
The occurrence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words. When the
rhyme occurs in a final stressed syllable, it is said to be masculine: cat/hat, desire/fire,
observe/deserve. When the rhyme occurs in a final unstressed syllable, it is said to be
feminine: longing/yearning. The pattern of rhyme in a stanza or poem is shown usually by
using a different letter for each final sound. In a poem with an aabba rhyme scheme, the
first, second, and fifth lines end in one sound, and the third and fourth lines end in
another
simile
A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word “like” or “as.” An
example of a simile using like occurs in Langston Hughes's poem “Harlem”: “What
happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?”
sonnet
A lyric poem that is 14 lines long. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two
quatrains and a six-line “sestet,” with the rhyme scheme abba abba cdecde (or cdcdcd).
English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are composed of three quatrains and a final couplet,
with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. English sonnets are written generally in
iambic pentameter.
stanza
Two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The
stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter
and rhyme
caesura
A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line. There is a
caesura right after the question mark in the first line of this sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett
Browning: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways