SONNET 116Kelly Kater, Jackie Rogers, Erin Wood, Sarah Markiewicz

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich 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.

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Match the Sonnets with the paraphrasing!

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich 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.

Prove me wrong, but either I never meant what I have written or man has never loved.

Do not let me obstruct the love between two people with my statements. Love is not love when it changes when changes come, or conforms to the problems that it is presented.

Love does not suffer time, while appearance can go with time, love stays the same. It endures time and can survive all problems.

Love is constant, it looks past its issues. Love is a hope to all, a guiding force. You can not understand love until you have felt it.

The Summary

Where do you think the summary occurs?

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

This summarizes the sonnet by saying that if none of what he said is true, than no man has ever loved before.

Theme

What do you think the theme of the sonnet is?

The theme, true love is one that can endure the tests of life and time, is what Shakespeare is trying to convey through this sonnet. You can see the theme through this line “Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,Or bends with the remover to remove”

Shakespeare explains that love can withstand anything thrown at it, and continues to say that “ If this be error and upon me proved,   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” Shakespeare uses these lines in his sonnet to make the point that love, if it is true love, fits these qualities.

Sonnet 116 vs. Pride and Prejudice

Sonnet 116 Pride and Prejudice

Can you find all the literary devices in the sonnet?

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:

Literary Devices?

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.

Literary Devices?

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.

Literary Devices?

 

  If this be error and upon me proved,

   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Questions

Put the first sentence into your own words. Does the word admit mean “acknowledge” or “let in”?

How does the speaker regard love that does not “admit impediments”?

Questions (cont.)

According to the speaker, how long should love last?

What metaphor is used to show that love should be firm and steady?

Questions (cont.)

Comment on the effectiveness of the concluding couplet.