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The Shakespeare Files: Sonnet 116 (Annotated)

By Will Willingham 14 Comments

Shakespeare Files annotated sonnets

The Shakespeare Files: annotations and exclamations on the poetry of William Shakespeare

shakespeare files sonnet 116

Text of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Definition of Terms

Enjambment — continuing a sentence or phrase past the line break. This poetic technique can be used to create a more interesting sound, as well as a play on words or twist of thought as in Shakespeare’s cynical example above.

Alliteration — regular repetition of consonant sounds (usually the initial) which can result in a certain resonance or reverberation which, when run riot, can also result in resentment.

Assonance — repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming. Those who over-manipulate their sounds through this technique can be accused of being assonant, as in the complaint, “I hate reading that guy’s poems. He’s such an assonance.”

Couplet — a pair of lines, often comprising a complete stanza. A couplet will often rhyme, but is not ostracized for its failure to do so.

Sonnet Matrix — the fictional way a certain poet characterizes a complex array of lines making up the traditional Shakespearean sonnet, written in iambic pentameter and comprised of three four-line stanzas which rhyme in the required manner and ending with a rhyming, but not necessarily negative, couplet.

Sonnet by William Shakespeare. Post and annotations by Will Willingham.

Browse the Shakespeare sonnets library (all 154!)
Browse the Top 10 Best Shakespeare Sonnets

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Will Willingham
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Will Willingham
Director of Many Things; Senior Editor, Designer and Illustrator at Tweetspeak Poetry
I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel, Adjustments, is available now.
Will Willingham
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Filed Under: Blog, Poems, poetry, poetry humor, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Files, Sonnets

About Will Willingham

I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel, Adjustments, is available now.

Comments

  1. Maureen Doallas says

    May 23, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    There could be worse things to suffer than “cynical enjambment”, like canceling out an entire line just because you feel like being negative.

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      May 23, 2013 at 12:56 pm

      Well, and putting sonnets everywhere at risk, too. Just because you’re having a bad day. A cautionary tale to poets everywhere, I think. 😉

      Reply
  2. L. L. Barkat says

    May 23, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    Heh. 🙂 I think Shakespeare would have loved the snark, being Shakespeare and all 🙂

    i love this. See me smiling? 🙂

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      May 23, 2013 at 12:56 pm

      Yes, I think I can see it. 🙂

      Reply
      • L. L. Barkat says

        May 23, 2013 at 1:01 pm

        🙂

        hey, and I just noticed the Definition of Terms and I am seriously laughing now. The alliterative run is particularly fetching.

        Reply
        • Will Willingham says

          May 23, 2013 at 1:12 pm

          It didn’t make you feel resentful? 😉

          Reply
  3. Megan Willome says

    May 23, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    I have a family member (who shall remain unnamed) who specializes in triple negatives. From now on, I’ll just tell her she’s Shakespearean.

    Reply
  4. THIAGO says

    February 16, 2020 at 8:59 am

    Thank you, sir.

    Thiago E. L. G.
    São Paulo – Brasil

    Reply
  5. wendy thijn says

    April 24, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    very good

    Reply
  6. Bethany R. says

    May 19, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    Enjoying this today. 🙂 Thanks for the chuckle.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. This Week's Top Ten Poetic Picks | Tweetspeak PoetryTweetspeak Poetry says:
    May 30, 2013 at 8:01 am

    […] in our good friend William Shakespeare’s day, there wasn’t such a fuss about the state of The Poetry Industry. At least not for […]

    Reply
  2. This Week's Top Ten Poetic Picks | says:
    October 24, 2013 at 8:02 am

    […] no secret that I’m not good with all things Shakespearean. His sonnets are not my strong suit. But I’m pretty sure that if my high school English […]

    Reply
  3. Top 10 All-Time Posts at Tweetspeak Poetry - says:
    October 23, 2014 at 11:13 am

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  4. Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets - says:
    June 27, 2015 at 6:56 pm

    […] 8. Sonnet 116 […]

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