The poem "Sonnet 116" by William Shakespeare adheres to the traditional sonnet structure, consisting of 14 lines divided into three quatrains followed by a final rhymed couplet, which allows for a clear progression of thought and argument about the nature of true love as constant and unchanging. This structured form emphasizes the unwavering and eternal qualities of love that the speaker defends throughout the poem.
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.
"Sonnet 116" by William Shakespeare
Use the poem to answer the question.
In 1–2 sentences, explain a conclusion that can
be drawn about the poem based on its structure.
1 answer