Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes
Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
Overview
Written during the late sixteenth century, Sonnet 116 is one of William Shakespeare's most celebrated poems. Shakespeare composed a total of 154 sonnets, and this particular work stands out for its bold declarations about the nature of love. The poem is thought to have been inspired by Shakespeare's feelings for the Earl of Southampton, though this remains a subject of scholarly debate. What makes this sonnet remarkable is its confident, philosophical exploration of what true love means, defined not by what it is, but by what it is not.
Context
Literary context: the sonnet tradition in the 1590s
The sonnet form has a rich history. It first appeared in Italy during the thirteenth century before spreading across Europe over the following centuries. The form arrived in England relatively late, around the 1530s, when Sir Thomas Wyatt composed works like 'Whoso List to Hunt, I Know Where Is a Hynde', which drew inspiration from Petrarch's sonnets. However, it was not until the 1590s that the sonnet truly gained widespread popularity in England. Sir Philip Sidney is often credited with sparking this enthusiasm through his collection 'Astrophil and Stella'.
Petrarchan sonnets became fashionable in European courts partly because their focus on the speaker's inner emotional turmoil and desire resonated with the experiences of courtiers navigating complex social and political situations. These sonnets frequently explored themes of unrequited love. The traditional Petrarchan form consisted of an octave (eight lines) with an ABBAABBA rhyme scheme, followed by a sestet (six lines) typically rhyming CDECDE or CDCDCD.
Shakespearean sonnets follow a different pattern. They are structured around three quatrains (four-line stanzas) with alternating rhymes (ABAB CDCD EFEF) and conclude with a rhyming couplet (GG). This organisational difference gives Shakespearean sonnets a distinct rhythm and allows for a different argumentative structure.
Other English poets experimented with variations - Spenserian sonnets, for instance, use rhyme sounds from previous quatrains.
Historical and authorial context
Sonnet 116 was composed during the early years of Queen Elizabeth I's reign. This was an extraordinary period in English history. Elizabeth was a patron of the arts, supporting literature and poetry. More significantly, her reign brought an unusual period of peace after years of political and religious turmoil. This peaceful climate allowed people, who had previously been preoccupied with external conflicts, to turn inward and begin exploring matters of the heart. This cultural shift helps explain why the sonnet form became so popular - it was closely associated with love poetry and personal reflection.
However, this peaceful era was short-lived. When Elizabeth died in 1603 without an heir, political chaos followed. Her reign, famously remembered as 'one of the most glorious' in English history, came to an abrupt end. Sonnet 116 was written before this descent into turmoil.
The sonnet was one of 154 that Shakespeare published together in a collection called a quarto in 1609, after his death. Literary critics have traditionally divided these sonnets into three groups: the Fair Youth sonnets (Sonnets 1-126), the Dark Lady sonnets (Sonnets 127-152), and the Greek Sonnets (Sonnets 153-154). Sonnet 116 belongs to the Fair Youth sequence, which means it is addressed to an unnamed young man. Some scholars believe this was the Earl of Pembroke, while others suggest the Earl of Southampton.
The poet writes about this young man using romantic and affectionate language. This has led to considerable debate among commentators. Some interpret the relationship as sexual, while others read it as an expression of platonic love. Either way, understanding this context is crucial for appreciating the sonnet's bold claims about the nature of love and the significance of its reference to the 'marriage of true minds' - particularly given that same-sex relationships were illegal in Elizabethan England.
Synopsis
Sonnet 116 opens with pessimistic-sounding words such as 'not', which are repeated throughout the poem. However, the speaker is not actually objecting to the concept of the 'marriage of two minds'. Instead, he defines what love is by first stating what it is not. From the opening lines, we can immediately recognise the ABAB rhyme scheme characteristic of the first quatrain, confirming that the poem follows the sonnet form.
The poem can be divided into three quatrains and a concluding rhyming couplet. An important structural feature occurs at line nine: a volta, or turn. At this point, the imagery shifts suddenly. The metaphor of love as a guiding star is replaced by a personification of love as an eternal, everlasting force capable of resisting death itself.
Time emerges as a central theme throughout the poem. Shakespeare presents true love as timeless, and this may partly account for why the sonnet has maintained its enduring popularity.
The poem concludes with a striking assertion: if the speaker is wrong about the nature of love, then he has never written anything, and no man has ever truly loved. This is a deliberately extreme statement, made possible by Shakespeare's fame as a writer. By making such a bold claim, he implies he would be willing to retract all his other works if proven wrong. This hyperbolic final statement reveals the depth of passion behind Sonnet 116.
Perspective and the opening lines
Sonnet 116 functions as a pronouncement about the nature of love. Shakespeare employs the first person at the sonnet's conclusion - 'I never writ' (line 14) - and since he references his own writings, we can assume the speaker's voice is that of Shakespeare himself. The impression we gain is that the speaker has experienced love deeply, including a 'marriage of true mindes', and this experience has provided him with a clear understanding of what love truly is.
The opening
The sonnet begins with a striking statement: 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds/ Admit impediments'. These opening lines immediately evoke the sacrament and institution of marriage. They also reference the Anglican marriage ceremony, which traditionally includes the line 'If any of you know cause or just impediment why these two persons should not be joined together in holy matrimony'. The speaker suggests that love represents the marriage or union of two compatible minds, and that their compatibility is what truly matters - not whether their union is legally recognised. This is particularly significant when we remember that the sonnet is addressed to a 'fair youth'. During Shakespeare's time, same-sex marriage did not exist, and homosexual relationships were illegal.
It's possible that Shakespeare is critiquing the institution of marriage itself. Although he was married, he clearly felt profound affection for this young man. The impossibility of their legal union may have led him to view the institution of marriage as fundamentally flawed, failing to reflect the true nature of love.
The clear, calm tone established in these opening lines is maintained throughout the entire sonnet. This steady tone mirrors the unchanging nature of love that the poem describes.
Structure
Form, meter, and rhyme scheme
Sonnet 116 follows the traditional Shakespearean structure: three quatrains (which can also be understood as an octave, a sestet, and a concluding rhyming couplet). Shakespeare employs iambic pentameter almost consistently throughout. Iambic pentameter is a metrical pattern that creates a rhythmic sound similar to a heartbeat, which is particularly appropriate given the sonnet's subject matter.
However, the first line contains an irregularity. The stresses are reversed, falling on the first and third syllables ('Let me not to') rather than the second and fourth, as would be typical. Normally, sonnets begin with a regular meter, and any irregularities appear later once the pattern is firmly established. Shakespeare's choice to start with an irregular pattern is unconventional. In fact, the only other example of an Elizabethan sonnet beginning with two trochaic feet (stressed-unstressed patterns) is John Donne's Holy Sonnet XVI ('Fa-ther, part of').
One might interpret this early metrical irregularity as illustrative of love itself: love weathers and overcomes storms without fundamentally changing its nature, just as the meter contains some rough patches but ultimately smooths out and conforms to the expected sonnet form.
The volta
A volta is the Italian term for 'turn', signifying a shift in tone or argument. Voltas are a standard feature of sonnets. In Petrarchan sonnets, they typically occur between the octave and the sestet. In Shakespearean or English sonnets, they usually appear before the final couplet.
In Sonnet 116, however, the volta occurs unusually early, between lines eight and nine. At this pivotal moment, the image of love as a guiding star is suddenly replaced by a personification of love as an eternal, everlasting force capable of resisting death. This introduces the crucial idea of love's immortality.
Despite this significant turn, there is strong continuity throughout the poem's three quatrains and final couplet. This continuity is achieved through the repetition of negative constructions: 'Let me not' (line 1), 'Love is not' (line 2), 'Oh no!' (line 5), 'never shaken' (line 6), 'Love's not' (line 9), 'Love alters not' (line 10), and 'I never writ, nor no man ever loved' (line 14). This persistent use of negatives creates a thread that mirrors love's constancy.
Language and poetic techniques
Simple, accessible language
The language used in Sonnet 116 is remarkably simple. More than three-quarters of the words are monosyllabic, making the sonnet accessible to virtually everyone. This linguistic simplicity is particularly fitting given that the poem makes a statement about a universal human experience. Love, Shakespeare suggests, is something everyone can understand.
Hyperbole
Shakespeare employs hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration) throughout Sonnet 116. Some critics have argued that this makes his characterisation of love unrealistic and overly idealised. While most readers might readily agree with the statement that love 'alters not with his brief hours and weeks' (line 11), fewer would agree that it endures all the way to the 'edge of doom' (Judgement Day).
Shakespeare attempts to address potential accusations of hyperbole in the final couplet. He declares that if he is proven wrong about love, then no man has ever truly loved - meaning they simply don't understand what love is. This hyperbolic statement captures the extremity of his convictions about love.
While love is defined somewhat vaguely and through negative terms in the first quatrain, the metaphors that appear in the second quatrain help to make the concept more concrete and vivid.
Metaphor
Shakespeare uses several metaphors to capture love's essence. Love is first compared to a lighthouse, then to a guiding star. These two metaphors are connected by the image of a boat (or 'bark') that follows both the stars and the lighthouse for navigation. Alternatively, one might interpret the second metaphor as embedded within the first: love is a lighthouse, and the lighthouse's light is itself a star that boats follow. Through these layered images, Shakespeare reveals the elevated, almost transcendent nature of love.
Personification
After the volta, Shakespeare personifies both Time and Love. The personification of Time is signalled by its capitalisation and the use of personal pronouns: 'his' appears in lines nine and ten. The image of a 'sickle' slicing through 'rosy cheeks and lips' is quite unsettling. Time is clearly equated with the Grim Reaper or Death himself.
While Shakespeare acknowledges that love cannot prevent death - it is not 'Time's fool' - he insists that love endures until the very last moment. This endurance is emphasised by an elongated line containing an extra syllable. The personification of love suggests that it functions as an impersonal or transpersonal entity. Love exists within individual humans, but it is ultimately a force that outlives them all.
Themes
True and platonic love
Many poems in the Pre-1900 anthology place considerable emphasis on physical desire and intimacy. By contrast, Sonnet 116 focuses on platonic love - love of the mind and spirit rather than the body. Shakespeare articulates this most clearly in the final rhyming couplet, where he argues that if he is ever proven wrong about the nature of love, then no man has ever truly known what love is. The sonnet is fundamentally about the purity of love rather than physicality. Love is imagined as a mental and spiritual union: a 'marriage of two minds' (line 1).
Everlasting and unchanging love
For Shakespeare, love is constant and outlasts mortal bodies. Love does not alter within a person's lifetime - during 'his breefe hours and weekes' (line 11) - and it survives even beyond death, persisting until Judgement Day ('even to the edge of doom'). This portrayal of love counters other representations that suggest love matures and changes over time. Shakespeare insists that true love remains fundamentally unchanged.
Critical responses
Tucker Brooke
The critic Tucker Brooke famously praised Sonnet 116 as using '110 of the simplest words in language and two simplest rhyme schemes to produce a poem ... strangeness of perfection'. Brooke's comment highlights Shakespeare's remarkable ability to create something profoundly impactful from linguistic simplicity.
However, whether one agrees with this assessment may depend on whether one accepts Shakespeare's characterisation of love or finds it too idealised and unrealistic.
Thomas Ledger
Thomas Ledger offers a more complex reading. He acknowledges that Sonnet 116 has been 'almost universally read as a paean to ideal and eternal love', with readers easily identifying with it and projecting their own dreams of perfect love onto the poem. However, Ledger argues that modern criticism encourages us to 'look beneath the idealism' and recognise 'hints of a world which is perhaps slightly more disturbed than the poet pretends'.
Ledger emphasises that Sonnet 116 appears 'sandwiched between three [sonnets] which discuss the philosophical question of how love deceives both eye and mind and judgement', and is then 'followed by four others which attempt to excuse the poet's own unfaithfulness and betrayal of the beloved'. When placed in this broader context within the quarto sequence, the sonnet 'does of course make it appear even more like a battered sea-mark which nevertheless rises above the waves of destruction'. In other words, love in the surrounding sonnets appears more problematic and conflict-ridden. Shakespeare may be attempting to dismiss or overcome these difficulties by making an especially strong, idealistic statement about love's eternal and perfect nature.
Comparisons with other anthology poems
Sonnet 116 and 'Ae Fond Kiss'
Similarities:
- Both poems represent true and pure love
- Both address societal barriers and limitations to love (Shakespeare's poem concerns a potentially homosexual relationship; Burns' poem concerns an illicit affair)
- Love functions as a guiding force in both: it is described as a 'star of hope' in 'Ae Fond Kiss' and as 'the star to every wandering bark' in Sonnet 116
- Both poems present idealised, almost fantastical visions of love
Differences:
- Burns is saying farewell, while Shakespeare insists that true love never requires goodbye because it lives on eternally
- Burns' poem is considerably more emotional, vividly conveying the distress of parting
- Sonnet 116 is much more concise than 'Ae Fond Kiss', perhaps reflecting that the speaker in Burns' poem is trying to delay the painful moment of departure
- Sonnet 116 offers a general philosophical reflection on the nature of love, whereas 'Ae Fond Kiss' provides a specific, personal account of a particular love affair
Sonnet 116 and 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'
Similarities:
- Both poems explore themes of intense, fantastical love
- Both portray love as inalterable. Sonnet 116 states that love does not 'ben[d] with the remover to remove'. Similarly, although the knight in 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' has been abandoned by his lover, his love remains strong
Differences:
- Keats creates a narrative story with multiple characters, while Shakespeare presents a short, concentrated sonnet
- Love causes profound distress in 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', whereas in Sonnet 116 it is portrayed as perfect and sustaining
- Sonnet 116 presents love as pure and primarily spiritual, whereas 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' contains erotic and physical references
- The knight in Keats' poem may be experiencing infatuation rather than genuine love, whereas Shakespeare appears to be describing authentic, perfect love
Key Points to Remember:
- Sonnet 116 defines love through negative statements - by what it is not rather than what it is
- The poem describes love as a 'marriage of true minds', emphasising mental and spiritual connection over physical union or legal recognition
- The volta occurs unusually early (between lines 8-9), shifting from the metaphor of love as a guiding star to the personification of love as an eternal force
- Shakespeare uses simple, monosyllabic language to describe a universal human experience that everyone can understand
- The poem's central themes are platonic love and the everlasting, unchanging nature of true love - love endures 'even to the edge of doom'
- The final couplet contains a hyperbolic statement: if Shakespeare is wrong about love, then he has never written anything and no man has ever loved - revealing the passionate conviction behind his argument